"Monkeypox Outbreak: Current Status and WHO Recommendations for Constant Monitoring"

2023-05-03 14:58:53

As of May 03, 2023, 4:58 p.m

For months, the monkeypox infection situation has played no role for most people in Germany. The WHO still considers the pathogens to be dangerous and warns of potential mutations. BRISANT provides information about the current status.

Exactly one year ago, a new sinister disease appeared in Europe: monkeypox. After the first cases in early May 2022, fear quickly spread: will we be hit by a new wave of disease as soon as the devastating coronavirus pandemic has subsided?

So far the answer is no, as most affected countries got the outbreaks under control fairly quickly.

After the first cases of monkeypox in Europe, fear quickly spread. (icon picture)
Image rights: picture alliance/dpa/CDC/Brian WJ Mahy

WHO recommends constant monitoring

In Germany, too, monkey pox, which is now called Mpox (short for monkeypox), is hardly an issue anymore. The World Health Organization (WHO) is different. In addition to influenza viruses, which cause bird flu, and viral diseases that are transmitted by so-called Aedes mosquitoes, the pathogen continues to be one of the three most dangerous virus groups from the animal world.

The authority is therefore calling for constant monitoring. “We could have a virus variant in three years that is much less easy to contain – that’s a real risk,” said WHO monkeypox expert Rosamund Lewis.

The spread of science is already a mystery, because the Mpox virus, which was practically only known from a few African countries, suddenly spread to other countries and on a larger scale from person to person in 2022. More than 87,000 cases have been reported to the WHO from 111 countries since the beginning of 2022, including 130 deaths (as of April 25).

The WHO warns of the potential danger of monkeypox. (symbol image)
Image copyright: IMAGO/IP3press

2023 no cases in Germany

Germany is with 3,700 reported cases among the ten countries with the highest number of cases. After a sharp increase, however, they fell again from August 2022. The vast majority of those infected were men, with less than one percent women, adolescents and children.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), no case has been registered since the end of January 2023. The RKI nevertheless warns that the numbers could rise again. For example, when more events with many participants take place in the spring.

To this day, monkeypox is a “health emergency of international scope” (PICK). This is the highest alert that WHO can issue. “It is worrying that it has stepped out of its ecological niche in Central and West Africa,” said Sylvie Briand of the WHO.

“The virus could change, become more contagious or infect a vulnerable population group that has previously been spared,” such as pregnant women or small children. “In these groups, the disease could take a much more severe course,” Briand continued. However, there are no current signs of this.

The majority of those infected in Germany were men who had sex with men. (icon picture)
Image rights: imago images/Westend61

Monkeypox – symptoms and vaccination

Monkeypox spreads among humans primarily through close physical contact. An infection usually causes fever, headache and muscle pain and a rash with pustules. The risk of infection can be significantly reduced by three approved vaccines.

Experts suspect that the virus originally came from small mammals such as sun or chipmunks or giant hamster rats. It is related to the classic human pox virus, which raged for centuries but has been considered eradicated since the 1980s.

BRISANT/dpa