Monkey pox should not worry citizens because it does not spread easily, as is the case with COVID-19.

The Commission on Infectious Diseases does not expect a dramatic development or serious spread of monkeypox.

So far, two suspected cases have been presented in the country, a resident of Kicevo who refuses to be tested and an immigrant hospitalized at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, who tested negative.

Because there is no legal possibility for the patient from Kicova to be "forced" to be tested, the Commission for Infectious Diseases announced after yesterday's meeting that it will submit a proposal to the Minister of Health to propose health surveillance for this person.

This, as explained by the KSI spokesperson, dr.

Zlate Mehmedović will say that according to that procedure they will have a permit, that is, with the help of the State Sanitary Health Inspectorate and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they will be able to locate the person in order to be tested.

In advance, the Commission recommended the imposition of isolation/quarantine measures, including home or hospital isolation of suspected monkeypox cases until they are tested, home or hospital isolation of confirmed cases until the disease is over or healing scabies, like.

as well as daily epidemiological monitoring of contacts of confirmed monkeypox cases during the 21-day incubation period.

This decision has been submitted to the Ministry of Health, for taking all necessary preventive measures.

All citizens who show symptoms of monkeypox, as stated by the chairman of the Commission for Infectious Diseases, dr.

Aleksandar Petličkovski, it is necessary to contact the mother's doctor and then, if there are doubts, to be sent to the Clinic for infectious diseases.

Monkey pox testing can be done at the Institute for Public Health, where at the moment, as Petličkovski informed, there are about 3300 tests.

According to data from the World Health Organization, Europe is currently the most affected by monkeypox.

The WHO European Region accounted for about 55 percent of the world's confirmed cases of monkeypox last month alone, with four countries in Europe (Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and France) reporting 76 percent of cases. .

The special representative of the regional director of the World Health Organization for Europe in North Macedonia, dr.

Ane Johansen, in a statement to the MIA, recommended that even in countries that have not yet reported cases of monkeypox, authorities responsible for public health are needed.

quickly and visibly build national capacities for surveillance, investigation, diagnosis and contact tracing, in order to identify and follow up any eventual case.

According to the data of the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the world until August 9, a total of 31,800 cases of monkeypox have been reported.