The District Health Secretariat informs that, to date, 3,527 probable cases of monkeypox or so-called MPOX have been reported in Bogotá, of which 1,980 have been confirmed by laboratory, 1,366 cases were ruled out and 181 remain probable (indeterminate results).
It also highlights that there have been no deaths with this disease as the basic cause. The Ministry of Health and Social Protection together with the National Institute of Health (INS) reported on June 23, 2022 the first three laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox in Colombia, including two residents of Bogotá with a history of travel to Europe.
According to the District, the actions implemented in the city have allowed the development of a comprehensive response and that Bogotá advances in the control of this disease. As a result of this action plan, since epidemiological week nine (February 28 to March 4, 2023), no confirmed cases have been registered in the Public Health Surveillance System (SIVIGILA), which allows the city to approach to declare the closure of the outbreak.
The epidemic curve of confirmed cases from the date of onset of symptoms shows a peak between the months of August to October 2022, where 88.8% of the total confirmed cases were registered; which then had a progressive decrease until the week of February 19 to 25, 2023, where the last two confirmed cases are recorded.
The age ranges of people who were mostly affected are between 27 and 59 years, with 76.3%, followed by the group from 18 to 26 years with 22%; the remaining 1.7% is distributed in the other age ranges.
On the other hand, on July 23, 2022, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of MPOX (monkeypox) constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Importance (ESPII), because since At the beginning of May 2022, 75 countries around the world had reported more than 16,000 cases.
Some of the measures implemented to control the disease in Bogotá are:
- Risk communication strategy aimed at the general population and the most vulnerable population; development of articulated actions with owners and administrators of gathering places, hotels, motels and places of sexual encounter.
- Capacity development with Non-Governmental and community-based Organizations for identification, diagnosis and timely care, as well as elimination of stigma and discrimination.
- Active search of cases and contacts.
- Development of capacities for timely diagnosis by laboratory.
- Field epidemiological interventions through the Immediate Response Teams (ERI), verifying the isolation of cases until their recovery and monitoring their contacts in order to break the chains of contagion.