{"id":1593,"date":"2024-08-21T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T09:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/?p=1593"},"modified":"2024-08-21T10:37:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T09:37:32","slug":"mpox-outbreak-in-africa-travel-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/2024\/08\/21\/mpox-outbreak-in-africa-travel-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"MPOX Outbreak in Africa &#8211; Travel Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The World Health Organization has recently (14 Aug 2024) announced the current outbreak of mpox in African countries is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) with potential to spread to other countries in and outside Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While a vaccine specifically against mpox is not available, the smallpox vaccine provides some protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-standard-white-color has-alert-red-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-94ea50bfc37766f1d37e43846bf6c884\" style=\"padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:45px\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-standard-white-color has-alert-red-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-832b9da728a2aaa803e0722d2f002043\">Important:\u00a0At present smallpox vaccine is\u00a0<strong>not<\/strong>\u00a0available in our travel clinics.<br>We will update if \/ when this situation changes.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the risk to general travellers is currently still considered to be low. There are several important measure travellers can undertake to minimise their risk should they travel to a country with known cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"advice-to-travellers\">Advice to Travellers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mpox is a zoonotic infection that is rarely seen in travellers arriving from African countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Transmission between people occurs through close skin to skin contact (including during sexual contact), or through droplet spread during close contact with a person infected with mpox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Symptoms in people commence with fever, a flu-like illness and swollen glands followed by the development of a blistering skin rash, resembling chickenpox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"travellers-should\">Travellers should:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>observe meticulous hand hygiene if visiting or caring for ill friends and relatives<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>avoid contact with primates and rodents and avoid consuming undercooked meat from these sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>wear protective clothing, including gloves, if involved in the slaughter or care of animals in countries where this mpox<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"travellers-should\">Travellers to any destination who may be sexually active during travel (including GBMSM) should:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>be aware of the risk of mpox<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>practise safe sex<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>avoid close, including sexual contact with someone who is unwell and may have mpox<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"travellers-should\">Travellers should be advised to seek medical help during, or for 21 days after travel if they develop symptoms of mpox and have:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>had close contact with someone who may have mpox, or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>returned from African countries where mpox is present. These travellers should also be screened for malaria.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<style>\nspan.heady { color: #FFFFFF; background-color: transparent !important; text-shadow: 0px 4px 3px rgb(0 0 0 \/ 20%), 0px 6px 16px rgb(0 0 0 \/ 32%), 0px 6px 17px rgb(0 0 0 \/ 20%); }\n\nspan.headysub { color: #FFFFFF; background-color: transparent !important; text-shadow: 0px 4px 3px rgb(0 0 0 \/ 20%), 0px 6px 16px rgb(0 0 0 \/ 32%), 0px 6px 17px rgb(0 0 0 \/ 20%); }\n\n@media (max-width: 767px) {\n.headline {\nmin-height: 129px;\npadding-top: 30px;\npadding-bottom: 35px;\nflex-direction: column;\njustify-content: flex-end;\n}\n#default-page-image {\nbackground-size: cover, cover, auto;\n}\n}\n\n#default-page-image {\ncolor: #FFFFFF !important;\nbackground-image: linear-gradient(90deg, rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0%, rgba(0,0,0,0) 70%), url(https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/header.jpg), url(https:\/\/www.nhslothian.scot\/aah100\/wp-content\/themes\/brochure-theme\/images\/abstract.jpg) !important;\nbackground-position: left center, center top, center top !important;\nbackground-repeat: repeat-y, no-repeat, no-repeat !important;\n}\n\n#members2 {\nbackground-image: none !important;\n}\n<\/style>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Health Organization has recently (14 Aug 2024) announced the current outbreak of mpox in African countries is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) with potential to spread to other countries in and outside Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"class_list":["post-1593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox.jpg",980,600,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox.jpg",980,600,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox.jpg",980,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox-300x184.jpg",300,184,true],"large":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox.jpg",980,600,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox.jpg",980,600,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox.jpg",980,600,false],"post_slider_thumbnail":["https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2024\/08\/mpox.jpg",980,600,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/category\/uncategorised\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorised<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The World Health Organization has recently (14 Aug 2024) announced the current outbreak of mpox in African countries is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) with potential to spread to other countries in and outside Africa.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1593"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1601,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions\/1601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/travelclinics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}