The Compliance Divas Podcast
Our podcast covers current topics such as infection prevention and control, OSHA and HIPAA compliance for dentistry. We discuss the latest regulatory information, answer frequently asked questions and give suggestions for dental practices to make compliance easy and sustainable. The Compliance Divas are a trusted source for consistent, accurate information based upon current guidelines, standards, science, and recommendations.
The Compliance Divas Podcast
#187 New mPox Strain Hits California
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Is this new strain of mPox something to be concerned about? Has it spread beyond California? Join the Divas as they unravel any mystery behind this new strain so you can continue to stay abreast of the latest information related to disease transmission.
- American Hospital Association: https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2024-11-18-california-confirms-first-known-us-case-deadlier-mpox-strain
- CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/mpox/situation-summary/index.html
Welcome. I'm Leslie Cannum. I'm Mary Gavoni.
SPEAKER_02I'm Linda Harvey. I'm Olivia Wan. And together we are the Compliance Divas.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. This is Linda Harvey and I will be your moderator today. As the Compliance Divas, we bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. We invite you to subscribe to our podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecompliancedeevas.com. Any resources that we mentioned today can be found in the show notes, and I also invite you to submit any questions that you have to support at thecompliancedevas.com. And at the end of the podcast, we invite you to scroll down and leave us a review. Today we're talking about a new strain of MPOX that recently hit California. You may recall that back in August, episode number 172, the Divas discussed the fact that the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency due to the rising number of empox cases. You may recall MPOX is formerly known as monkeypox. And even though no one is sounding an alarm about a potential pandemic, it's still very important to be aware of the various outbreaks of diseases and cases in the US and abroad. Because we know with the amount of travel that folks are enjoying these days, you never know when someone in your geographic area can come back with a disease or some illness. So with that, let's talk about what's going on with this family of MPOX. Mary, can you give us an overview of this new strain, maybe the number of cases and kind of what you're seeing or hearing?
SPEAKER_01Yes. So far in California with this new strain called CLAID one, there, as far as I know, only one case that's been identified in California. But the concern is that this is a particular strain that is less serious but spreads more easily. And the fact that most of the MPOX cases are actually in Africa, in the Republic of Congo primarily, that tells us now it's making a global migration, if you will, and it's ending up in the US. So if you see the term clade that refers to a strain of MPOX, it simply means that it's part of a family of viruses that come from the same, what would be called the ancestral virus. So it's kind of like what we saw with COVID-19, that we saw the original COVID-19, the SARS-SARS-CoV-2 virus, and then we saw a number of variants from that, but they all came from the same origin. So again, the fact that it's showing up here in the US, and it's a strain that spreads very, very rapidly, it is certainly a concern. And so quick review of symptoms for MPOX: a fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, swollen lymph nodes, and the real telltale sign is a particular type of rash. It looks like almost like boils on the skin and a sore throat. So if a practice has patients who have been international travelers, especially to those parts of Africa, and presents in the office with a rash with some other symptoms, then you need to be very careful about skin-to-skin contact with that person and make sure that there is some kind of notification to the health department and that that person is evaluated by a physician.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you so much, Mary. That really gives us an eye-opening into this clade, how it's developing. And even though there's only been one case in California, I know that as of April of 2024, there's been 59 cases of MPOX for the other clade here in Florida. And that's not a large number, but if it's aggregated or it's in one community or one location, then it could become concerning. So that's why we like our listeners to be informed of all these different types of things that are as they're evolving. Olivia, could you give us an idea about treatment for MPOX? What's available? What should our listeners do?
SPEAKER_02Linda, treatment of MPOX is mainly supportive, which means it's basically relieving the symptoms. So that would involve ibuprofen, uh neproxen, acetametophane, trying to reduce pain, symptoms, and fever. It's really important to keep the rash clean, dry, and uncovered and avoid touching skin lesions. So with that said, Linda, I think it's really important for dental professionals to recognize the risk of transmitting to one of the workers. So PPE is critical to make sure that we're not being exposed to these lesions. Providers may prescribe antiviral medications, might even be IV for those that have severe symptoms or are at risk for more severe disease. Um it sounds like to me, it sounds like a lot of flu symptoms, but adding the rash symptoms on top of it and sounds like it's really uncomfortable, just like chicken pox is.
SPEAKER_00So that gives our listeners something else to be mindful of and when they're doing their oral cancer exam and interoral exam to be mindful of any lesion in the mouth for good, thorough oral cancer screening because we never know what we're going to find. It might not be cancer, it might be something else. So it also reiterates the fact of what you and Mary have both said, just the need to stay vigilant with your PPE and your housekeeping. So please, listeners, be sure that you're wearing your heavy utility gloves as required by Blood OSHA's bloodborne pathogen standard and the hazard communication standard when you're cleaning and disinfecting operatories and not just when you're in sterilization processing instruments, because that's those gloves give you the most protection against cross-contamination and of course with the chemicals and the disinfectant wipes that you're using. So continue to be vigilant. Flu season is just coming among us now, and we want to be healthy this year. Mary, what other thoughts did you have?
SPEAKER_01Well, our listeners might be wondering since we talk so much about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases, is there a vaccine for MPOX? And there is, but there is not a broad recommendation from the CDC that all healthcare providers have the MPOX vaccine. It is really targeted primarily to perhaps hospital healthcare workers if there has been a case identified, and certainly in other countries like the Congo, where it is relatively prevalent where that vaccine would be utilized more so than in the US. But again, that could change.
SPEAKER_00That's a great point, Mary. That could change. We know that things can change just so quickly, as we saw with the pandemic and how quickly it evolved across the globe. And certainly we're not predicting that, we're not forecasting that, we're not even alluding to the fact that MPOX in this new clade is going to be any kind of global pandemic. But we want our listeners to be mindful of different cases, whether it's the flu or TB or measles, any of these different illnesses as they come up, because sometimes they're in clusters and communities, and you want to be mindful of your patients coming in. And also brings us back to the fact that as we did during COVID, when we were screening our patients, we should be continue to screen our patients before they come into their appointments. They don't need to fill out a form, it doesn't need to be a long COVID questionnaire. But any question related to whether the patient's feeling ill, do they have any respiratory illnesses, and will certainly be appropriate questions that can be asked through your patient confirmation program. So please remember it's best to be safe, take care of yourself this flu season, wash your hands frequently as required by the Center for Disease Control or the recommended timeframes, wear your PPE and be vigilant with your patients and asking good questions for your health histories and your oral cancer exams. So, as that, the compliance divas bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. We invite you to subscribe to our podcast, so your favorite podcast channel or on our website, at thecompliancedevas.com. Any resources that we mentioned today can be found on our show notes, and we invite you to submit any questions that you may have to support at the compliance divas.com. And again, we invite you to scroll down and leave us a review for the podcast. We'll see you next time.