By Katrina Gracia Consebido
To prevent the entry of monkeypox in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) is implementing a “Four-Door Strategy,” an infectious disease expert said Wednesday, May 25.
In the Laging Handa briefing, Dr. Edsel Salvana, a member of DOH Technical Advisory Group, explained the different layers of protection the Health department is executing: Prevent, Detect, Isolate, Treat, Reintegration (PDITR) strategy.
“Well ‘yung four-door strategy po, ano ‘yan, different layers ng protection na ginagawa po natin and really, it starts with, ‘yung nasa border control natin and then ‘yung PDITR strategies natin all the way down to ‘yung ginagawa natin sa community na mayroon tayong mga contact tracing, mayroon tayong testing at ‘yung paggamit ng mga mask and of course ‘yung vaccination natin that also protects people around us,” Salvana said.
Covered in the said strategy are monitoring all travelers before entering the country, mandating the public to wear face masks, and encouraging them to get vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19, according to Salvana.
“And masasakop na rin talaga dito ‘yung monkeypox kasi sa monitoring ay we make sure people aren’t symptomatic when they’re on the planes. And ito nga, ‘yung paggamit ng mask, mas magiging mas mabisa pa nga ‘yun against monkeypox kaysa sa COVID at sakop na rin po ‘yung pag-monitor natin ng mga other infectious diseases that are always a risk naman to get into our borders,” he added.
Meanwhile, Salvana noted that monkeypox, a DNA virus, is “less transmissible and unlikely to mutate” compared to COVID-19, which is an RNA virus.
“The other thing about monkeypox is that it doesn’t mutate very much, it’s a DNA virus compared COVID, which is an RNA virus na nagkakamali talaga lagi iyong virus kaya nagkaka-mutation.” – gb
