“Transmission occurs mainly by respiratory droplets, usually after prolonged face-to-face contact with the patient,” says the WHO.
Patient diagnosed in Spain. Photo: Dr. Pablo Ortiz Professor of Dermatology and Head of the Dermatology Service and Professor of Dermatology at Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre.
The smallpox simian, also known as smallpox monois a illness caused by a virus transmitted from animals to people (viral zoonosis).
As explained by the World Health Organization (OMS), cases are reported sporadically in central and western areas of the tropical forest of Africa.
“Transmission occurs primarily by respiratory droplets, usually after prolonged face-to-face contact with the patient, which exposes members of the family of active cases a an increased risk of infection“, indicates the WHO.
Likewise, a series of animals that are more highly potential in transmitting this disease were identified, according to publications AFP.
Mono
Of according to the national agency of public health of USA (CDCfor its acronym in English), this disease was discovered in 1958 in colonies of monkeys that were used for experiments for research purposes, hence the name of this class of smallpox.
prairie dog
In the United States, a series of cases were presented that confidentially had had direct contact with domestic prairie dogs. These cases were the first reported outside the African continent, where all cases had been reported until 2003.
Rate of Gambia
The Gambian giant rat is a rodent that, when handled in an irregular way, can generate the transmission of smallpox of the monkey These are endemic to Central Africa.
Risk of contagion
The risk of contagion smallpox of the monkey is “very low” in the general population and may stop in countries where the disease is not endemic, health authorities said on Monday, after the increase in cases in Europa y North America.
As of May 21, the World Health Organization (WHO) had been notified of 92 confirmed cases of monkeypox and 28 suspected cases, detected in 12 countries where the disease is not endemic, including several of the European UnionUSA, Australia y Canada.
According to the WHO, it is the first time that cases have been registered simultaneously in several countries and among people who have not traveled to the regions of Africa where the disease is endemic.
But at the same time, the agency of the ONU stresses that outbreaks in non-endemic countries can be controlled and human-to-human transmission stopped.
The European Center for the Prevention and the Disease Control (ECDC) also relativized fears among the population and assured on Monday that the risk of contagion was “very low” in the general population, although “high” among people with multiple sexual partners.
smallpox Mono virus, which is not usually fatal, can cause fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and fatigue.
Rashes (on the face, palms of the hands, soles of the feet), lesions, pustules, and finally scabs then appear.
There is no treatment for smallpox del mono, but its symptoms usually disappear after two or three weeks.
Three cases of #Monkeypox on a morning in @ dermah12o !!! (We still do not have microbiological confirmation)
It’s scary. Very afraid pic.twitter.com/1qmLmXPNge– Pablo L Ortiz Romero (@drpabloortiz) May 18, 2022
“Stay Vigilant”
“We want to stop transmission from person to person. We can do it in non-endemic countries… It is a situation that can be controlled,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, in charge of the fight against covid-19 at the WHO, but also of emerging diseases and zoonoses.
“We are in a situation where we can turn to public health tools of early detection and supervised isolation of cases,” he explained. “We can stop human-to-human transmission,” she insisted.
The expert indicated that transmission occurred through “close physical contact: skin-to-skin contact.”
Most cases have mild symptoms, said Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC in the first risk assessment since the unusual appearance of this disease. “For the general population, the probability of contagion is very low,” she added in a statement.
“However, the probability that the virus spreads more through close contacts, for example in sexual acts or between people who have multiple sexual partners, is considered high,” he added.
Despite the low risk of contagion, Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said it was important to “remain vigilant”, with effective tracing and diagnostic methods.
According to the ECDC, the virus can develop a severe form of the disease in some groups such as “young children, pregnant women and immunosuppressed people”.
The agency also warned of the risk of “human-to-animal transmission” and said that if the virus spread to animals “there is a risk that the disease could become endemic in Europe.”