Like previous vaccines, the smallpox vaccine, which is now approved for adults in the EU, is based on a modified vaccinia virus, which also belongs to the poxviruses and is similar to the human and monkeypox virus. Compared to human smallpox, however, it hardly causes any symptoms. In the live vaccine, it can be found in a weakened form that can no longer reproduce in the human body.
Can I get vaccinated against monkeypox now?
So far there has been no recommendation for people in Germany to be vaccinated against monkeypox. Since, according to the current state of knowledge, close contact is necessary for transmission, the chances are high that the outbreak will also fizzle out. According to the WHO, the longest chains of infection that have been documented so far were around six to nine people long.
However, one is considering a vaccination recommendation for people who are particularly at risk, said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach on May 23 on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. In Great Britain, the British health authority is now advising contact persons with a high risk of infection to be vaccinated with the smallpox vaccine. These include household members or sexual partners of infected people.
Do I have to go into quarantine if I’m infected?
The first regulations for dealing with sick people are in the works: On May 24, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced that an ordered isolation of at least 21 days should be recommended for infected people and their contact persons. The recommendation was developed together with the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), said Lauterbach at a press conference during the German Doctors’ Day.
Could monkeypox also spread to local animals?
Monkeypox is actually an animal disease, presumably in rodents, that only occasionally spreads to monkeys and humans. In addition, a whole range of different animal species has been shown to be susceptible – even outside of Africa. Theoretically, it is therefore possible for animals to become infected with infected people and pass the virus on to each other. Such an animal reservoir would be a major problem in the fight against monkeypox, because the virus can spread back to humans from there at any time, as for example in Nigeria, where several cases occur every year – more than 500 since 2017.
Such a situation is conceivable in Europe, but unlikely: “The range of monkeypox hosts for a spill-over infection is broad, but whether there are also animal species in Europe that can be considered suitable reservoir hosts and can spread the virus further is rather questionable,” says Martin Beer, head of the Institute for Virus Diagnostics at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Greifswald. You would first need such a susceptible animal species, which would then have sufficiently close contact with an infected person and would have to be able to efficiently infect other animals, explains the virologist. Although a single pet such as a cat could be infected through direct contact with an affected person, the virus would first have to be passed on to other individuals in a population. “It is therefore very unlikely that the virus will establish itself in a new animal population in Europe,” says Beer.