Monkeypox appeared in a kindergarten in Michle, Prague. One of the parents, whose child attends the school in Přímětice Street, said. The school posted a notice on the door announcing they had monkeypox.
“According to information from the regional health station, the class must remain in isolation for 21 days. The isolation does not have to take place at home. The children can go to kindergarten. The class will be in isolation from the other children in the kindergarten (separate areas inside and outside the building, no participation in kindergarten events),” the notice reads.
On Thursday afternoon, Prague Hygiene published a notice on its website confirming the presence of monkeypox in the kindergarten. According to the station, this was the first case of a child in Prague, with more cases worldwide.
“The skin sample (blister) result showed only mild positivity. Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, the Prague Hygiene not only launched the relevant epidemiological investigation but also set up adequate anti-epidemic measures for specific individuals and the kindergarten in question,” the hygiene department said. The child and his family members had to undergo control nasopharyngeal swabs and blood tests.
“The results of the nasopharyngeal swabs were negative for all of them. The results of the blood tests will not be known until next week. In the meantime, all the anti-epidemic measures described below remain in place,” the health authority said, adding that the child is believed to have contracted the disease on a family holiday in Spain.
Risk to pregnant women and immunocompromised people
According to experts, human-to-human transmission occurs mainly through prolonged contact, with the virus spreading through close physical contact with an infected person or, for example, through the bedding. Experts say that transmission by the droplet route (airborne) is possible but not easy.
Other modes of human-to-human transmission include direct contact with body fluids or infectious lesions and indirect contact with lesion material, e.g., through contaminated clothing or linen.
People at risk of disease’ should limit contact with young children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised people.