A meeting of the WHO World Health Organization emergency committee is scheduled for Thursday, July 21 to deal with monkeypox. This infectious disease, which is characterized by the appearance of rashes, continues to progress in the United States and Europe. In West Africa, cases have been confirmed in Nigeria, Ghana and Benin. A training session for virologists from the 15 ECOWAS countries ended on Wednesday July 20 in Dakar, at the initiative of the West African Health Organization.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
” Do not panic “, assures Doctor Ousmane Faye, head of the virology department at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar: monkeypox (“ monkeypox in English) is endemic in several African countries. But faced with the resurgence of these cases, we must anticipate:
” There were few labs that could make diagnoses, now the idea is that everyone can do it at home, because the earlier the diagnosis, the more effective the measures that must be taken. How to sample, how to interpret the results, all of this was discussed in this workshop, so it’s really a package that should allow laboratories to be equipped to test cases suspects in their country. »
Virologists from ECOWAS countries will therefore return home with kits common diagnosis. ” It is important that we have the same kits and the same diagnostic techniquesexplains Anges Yadouleton, head of the haemorrhagic and viral fever laboratory in Benin, which will make it possible to harmonize the results and to draw reliable conclusions and to go very quickly, so as not to be overwhelmed. We would not want what happened with the Covid-19 to see the light of day again. »
Among the recommendations made during the workshop: strengthening surveillance, particularly at borders.
For Dr. Abdourahmane Sow, head of the public health laboratory service at the West African Health Organization, we have to anticipate.
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