Indian Journal of Communicable Diseases

A 50 yr old male presented with decreased consciousness following fever for consecutive 5
days. Blood pressure was 120/70, pulse rate 100/min. Respiratory and cardiovascular system
examination was normal. There was no abdominal distention or vomiting. Skin rash was absent.
Jaundice was present.
Investigation showed blood leucopenia with moderate to severe anemia and thrombocytopenia.
Chest X-ray was normal. ECG was normal and echocardiogram revealed small pericardial
effusion. Liver function test revealed moderate hypoalbuminemia with mild hyperbilirubinemia.
Dengue NS 1 antigen test was positive. His decreased consciousness level in spite of normal
hemodynamic stability prompted us to get a CT scan of brain without contrast followed by CSF
study.
CT scan of brain revealed acute extra axial subdural hemorrhage (SDH) with extra dural
hemorrhage (EDH) along right hemisphere with displacement of ventricle to the left. CSF study
was deferred due the presence of mass effect.
Conservative management was done with PRBC and platelet transfusions. As his sensorium
and mass effect improvement occurred in following 3 days, the motor paresis of the patient did
not significantly improve thereby prompting the neurosurgeon to perform surgical evacuation
of SDH plus EDH. The patient had an uneventful recovery.

Introduction: India reported its first case of MonkeyPox on 14th July 2022 in Kerala after WHO declared it to be a public health emergency of international concern. Since MonkeyPox is a re-emerging disease, knowledge about its etiopathogenesis, clinical features and treatment is essential among budding doctors especially in non-endemic countries.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Dr. Vithalrao Vikhe Patil Foundation’s Medical College and Hospital among 3rd year Phase I and Phase II medical students using a selfdesigned, pre-structured online questionnaire to assess their knowledge about the MonkeyPox virus. Data obtained was collected in Excel and analyzed using SPSS software (version 20).

Results: The average knowledge score was between 40-60% (Average) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 4.39 – 9.39. Of the total participants, 30 (26%) had poor knowledge, 47 (41%) had average knowledge, 37 (32%) had good knowledge and 1 (1%) had excellent knowledge about the MonkeyPox virus. Better knowledge scores were observed among female students (P=0.003) and students studying in 3rd Year Phase I of medical school (P=0.01).

Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrate that a significant number of medical students have insufficient awareness about the re-emerging MonkeyPox virus.

Education involves the spreading of knowledge from one person to another. Education
involves the exchange of ideas between groups of people. However in the time of COVID-19
crisis when we could not conduct classes for large groups due to difficulty in keeping the social
distance, we resorted to online webinars for imparting knowledge. We share our experience with
the online webinars.