To prevent monkeypox among pregnant women, ICMR-NIRRCH comes up with recommendations

Further, the recommendations spoke of conducting studies on the safety and efficacy of available anti-virals and vaccines for the treatment of monkeypox among pregnant women.

Author Dr Rahul Gajbhiye, the main author of the report published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia on Wednesday, said: “We recommend the development of guidelines for diagnosis and management of monkeypox among pregnant women and newborns. We need to involve global experts engaged in the management of monkeypox among pregnant women and newborns for developing evidence-based guidelines appropriate for India and low resource settings.”

As per the researchers, pregnant or lactating women and younger children are vulnerable to monkeypox and develop severe symptoms and adverse outcomes associated with the infection.

The recommendations have been made based on the experience of the PregCovid registry network – a centralised database with details of pregnant women – being maintained in a collaboration with the state medical education and drugs department and Nair hospital.

The recommendations said that women of child-bearing age – constituting 22.2 per cent of the total Indian population – are vulnerable to monkeypox.

The report stated that guidelines issued by the Union government do not provide guidance on the management of pregnant women infected with monkeypox virus.

Although evidence of the infection among pregnant women is limited, there is a chance of vertical transmission and impact on the fetus’ health. “Based on the Covid-19 experience, we recommend institutional isolation of both asymptomatic as well as symptomatic monkeypox positive pregnant women to ensure maternal and fetal surveillance,” the report added.