ICMR-NIRRCH come up with recommendations to prevent monkeypox among pregnant women

The ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive and Child Health (NIRRCH) has released guidelines in The Lancet Regional Health-Southeast Asia journal for managing monkeypox (MPX) infection in pregnant women in India.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women, as well as young infants, are particularly prone to MPX, which can cause severe sickness and bad results.

Previously, the ICMR-NIRRCH had launched the ‘National Registration of Pregnant Women with Covid-19 (PregCovid registry)’ in partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai’s Medical Education and Drugs Department and BYL Nair Hospital.

Based on the experience of this registry, the authors have recommended strategies for addressing monkeypox infection in pregnant women in India.

Dr Rahul Gajbhiye, Scientist D and DBT Wellcome India Alliance Clinical and Public Health Fellow at ICMR-NIRRCH, said, “We recommend the development of guidelines for diagnosis and management of MPX in pregnant women and newborns in India. We need to involve global experts engaged in the management of MPX in pregnant women and newborns for developing evidence-based guidelines appropriate for India and low-resource settings. These guidelines shall be revised from time to time based on real-time experience from India and the global data. We also recommend development of a registry of pregnant women and their newborns exposed to MPX virus.”

Dr Niraj Mahajan, Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynaecology at BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai, and co-author of the study, said in an official statement issued on Wednesday: “For our Indian settings, we recommend discussing the risk of neonatal MPX infection and the benefits and risk of Cesarean section with the pregnant woman and her relatives. Since there is evidence of risk of vertical transmission and fetal demise, we recommend close monitoring to provide appropriate care to the pregnant woman infected with MPX”.

“There is a need to establish a multidisciplinary team for management of MPX in pregnant women and their newborns and also strengthen public and private healthcare system for MPX outbreak in India,” said Dr Geetanjali Sachdeva, Director, ICMR-NIRRCH and co-author of the publication.