Chennai, May 31 (PTI) Indicating that the chances of monkeypox case cannot be ruled out in the country, the Tamil Nadu Health department on Tuesday advised international airports in the state to step up its surveillance with regard to the disease and directed the respective health officer to collect samples of passengers who show symptoms on arrival from the affected countries.

The Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine T S Selvavinayagam said the health officer at the international airports may isolate the sick traveller on arrival and the samples be sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune for further investigation.

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Airport health officer, Airport Authority of India (AAI), International airports of Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Madurai and Tuticorin have been requested that any international travellers found with fever, headache, muscle ache and exhaustion should 'strictly' be subjected to sample testing, he said in an official release.

According to him, as of May 20, cases of monkeypox disease were reported in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Europe, Australia and Canada with no fatalities.

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Though no monkeypox case has been reported in the country, chances of this disease occurring in India cannot be 'ruled out', he cautioned.

"As a proactive approach National Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has identified several public health actions to be initiated in event of suspected cases being reported from India," he said.

The health facilities to keep heightened suspicion in people who have unexplained rash, who have travelled in the last 21 days to a country which had confirmed cases of monkey pox, he said.

All suspected cases to be isolated designated healthcare facilities and the patients should be reported to the District Surveillance Officer and all infection control practices should be followed while treating such patient, he added.

"In case a positive case is detected, contact tracing has to be initiated immediately to identify the contacts of the patient in the last 21 days," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)