While of first vaccines against the disease have just arrived in our flat country, should we fear an explosion of cases? Is this virus very virulent? Should the whole population be vaccinated? We take stock with infectious disease specialist Yves Van Laethem.
How is the situation developing in Belgium?
The spread of the virus is not exploding but the number of new cases continues to increase all the same. At the Saint-Pierre hospital in Brussels, for example, we have one or two new cases a day.
The spread of the virus does not explode
We note that it is the male homosexual or bisexual community that is mainly affected, even if there are still some cases in children and women.
Why is this community more affected?
Because she was the gateway to the virus. He appeared in the gay/bisexual community in Africa.
Without any stigma, we know statistically that people from the homo/bisexual world have more sexual partners than straight people. They also mostly have more sex without protection. And since this virus is mainly caught through the mouth, rectum and genitals, it is enough for one of your partners to have been infected without knowing it for them to transmit the virus to you.
In fact, the European cases come from people who were infected in this community of Africa and who have meanwhile arrived on the old continent.
How do I know if I am infected?
Transmission occurs through the respiratory route, by spreading large drops, as well as through contact with skin lesions.
Surprisingly, we have a few generous flu-like symptoms
Surprisingly, we have a few generous flu-like symptoms: swollen glands, fatigue, pain all over. We don’t quite know why. On the other hand, we see more intraoral and intrarectal lesions.
We are not particularly visible. We can go unnoticed
And when it comes to skin lesions, these are more localized. Transmission occurs without specific lesions anywhere on the body (arms, hands, etc.). We are therefore not particularly visible. We can go unnoticed.
The best way to know if you are contaminated is to analyze your body well, to look after the slightest lesion. Especially since these are most often located in the mouth, private parts (perineum, lower abdomen, sexual organs) and rectum.
If I caught monkeypox, is it serious doctor?
It is a mild and non-lethal disease.
No. It is a mild and non-lethal disease. It is therefore not a public health problem at all. But we would still like to stop this transmission in Europe, because monkey pox was not present in our regions before that.
How to eradicate the disease?
There are two ways to do this: sensitize and vaccinate.
Sensitize doctors, who are not used to this diagnosis. Raise awarness. If you develop lesions, you obviously shouldn’t go cuddle with other people.
And then you also have to rely on the help of smallpox vaccines.
About this vaccination, who does it concern?
Not everyone should be vaccinated against monkeypox. Some of them are already partially protected by vaccines against smallpox that were still administered to children until the end of the 1970s. This explains in particular the fact that the average age of infected people turns around 35 years old.
Modern smallpox vaccine also works against monkeypox
There is also the modern smallpox vaccine, which also works against monkeypox. It is moreover this one which is recently arrived in Belgium .
This new vaccine makes it possible, if injected very soon after a risky contact, to block the development of the infection.
It makes no sense to vaccinate the whole population
This is mainly intended for nursing staff who have been exposed, people who have been in contact with a high-risk (sexual) contact as well as people with fragile health, such as the immunocompromised.
This vaccination must be put into perspective. Pathology has hardly left its starting population, with a few exceptions. It therefore makes no sense to vaccinate the entire population.