In Austria, no case of monkeypox, which occurs in several countries, has been reported to date. However, the health authorities are preparing: If the worst comes to the worst, contact tracing should be ready to go at the beginning of next week, the APA learned today from the Ministry of Health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for all contacts of infected people to be traced.
“Case definitions and delimitations are currently being developed in order to be able to implement adequate case and contact person management as part of a reporting obligation,” said the health department. Uniform international guidelines are needed to decide whether monkeypox should be one of the notifiable diseases in the future and whether infected people should also be quarantined.
PCR tests possible for detection
Coordinations are ongoing between the WHO and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Laboratory PCR tests could also be used to detect monkeypox.
There are several assumptions as to why monkeypox is apparently increasing and spreading right now. On the one hand, the renewed increase in travel “after Covid”, when travel was much less possible or sometimes not possible at all due to the fight against the pandemic, could contribute to this.
On the other hand, the authorities, but also the media and the population, are probably more sensitive to zoonoses and their possible consequences as a result of their experiences with the coronavirus pandemic – like SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox is a disease that jumped from animals to humans.
Outbreaks in Europe, Australia and Canada
After outbreaks in Europe, the first cases of monkeypox were also reported in Australia and Canada. Australia today reported a first case of monkeypox in a male traveler who had recently returned from the UK.
Another possible case, a man who also recently traveled to Europe, is still under investigation. Both men became mildly ill and showed symptoms upon arrival in Australia.
In Canada, two cases have been reported in the province of Quebec, the first confirmed infections in the country. The authorities are also investigating 17 suspected cases.
Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, and skin rashes, which usually start on the face and spread to the rest of the body. People can become infected through very close contact with infected people. Cases of monkeypox have recently been reported in Great Britain, the USA and Portugal. Spain, Italy and France reported the first cases yesterday.
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