Monkey pox: “very low” risk of contagion for the general population


Transmission of monkeypox “can be stopped in non-endemic countries,” a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Monday. “It is a situation that can be controlled, particularly in the countries where we see this epidemic occurring in Europe”, declared Maria Van Kerkhove, in charge of the fight against Covid-19 at the WHO but also diseases. emerging and zoonoses. Monkeypox, a less dangerous cousin of smallpox eradicated forty years ago, has made its sudden appearance in recent weeks in countries where it is normally only very rare: Europe and North America.

“Less than 200 confirmed and suspected cases”

According to Dr. Van Kerkhove, there are currently “less than 200 confirmed and suspected cases” in these non-endemic countries. “We are in a situation where we can use public health tools of early identification coupled with the isolation of cases”, she underlined, specifying that there were currently no cases. severe. Rosamund Lewis, who is in charge of smallpox at the WHO emergency programme, stressed that “this is the first time that we have seen cases in many countries at the same time and people (diseased) who are not ‘have not traveled to endemic areas of Africa’.

Rosamund Lewis said it was not yet known if the virus had mutated, but stressed that these orthopoxviroses “tend to be quite stable”. A big global meeting with all experts from many branches is to be held next week to discuss this epidemic.

Not a sexually transmitted disease

Andy Seale, strategy adviser for WHO’s global programs on HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, stressed that while this virus can be caught during sexual activity, it is not a disease. sexually transmitted. “Although we are seeing cases among men who have sex with men, it is not a gay disease, as some people on social media have tried to label it,” he insisted.

Monkeypox first manifests as a high fever and quickly progresses to a rash, with the formation of scabs, especially on the face. There is no treatment but this viral infection heals itself. At least a dozen European countries as well as Australia, Canada and the United States, countries where its presence is unusual, have reported cases of monkeypox. It is normally present, considered “endemic”, in 11 African countries.



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