The disease, from which most people recover within several weeks and which has only been fatal in rare cases, has infected thousands of people in parts of central and western Africa in recent years but has been rare in Europe. and North Africa, it is called monkeypox.
It is caused by a smallpox virus transmitted from animals to humans, it is spread by contact with an infected person or their body fluids, including saliva. It was detected in West Africa in the 1950s. Its main carriers are small rodents that live in tropical forests, such as squirrels, and its first human outbreak occurred in the Republic of Congo in the 1970s.
It is recognized by welts that start on the face and spread to the hands and feet, a smallpox-like appearance (hence part of the name), and slightly milder symptoms than classic smallpox: fever, headache, muscle pain , back, chills, exhaustion and swollen glands.
today the world he becomes alarmed by her, especially the World Health Organization, WHO, to which new outbreaks were reported in the United Kingdom on May 6. Other countries have raised their hands: the United States, Spain, Sweden and Portugal.
Most Recent Cases
Health authorities in North America and Europe have detected dozens of suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox since the beginning of May, raising fears that the disease, endemic in parts of Africa, is spreading.
Canada was the latest country to report that it is investigating more than a dozen suspected cases of the disease, after Spain and Portugal detected more than 40 possible and verified cases. The United States certified the first last Wednesday, that of a man from the state of Massachusetts who had tested positive for the virus after visiting Canada.
The reports
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported this week that it was working in coordination with the British and European health authorities on new outbreaks.
“We need to better understand the extent of monkeypox in endemic countries to really understand how much it is circulating and the risk it poses to the people who live there, as well as the risk of export,” said infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, at a WHO press conference.
The first case in Britain was identified in a person who had traveled to Nigeria, but subsequent cases were possibly through community transmission, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in a statement.
The WHO said it was investigating Many of the reported cases they were people who identify as gay or bisexual. “This is new information that we need to investigate to better understand the dynamics of local transmission in the UK and other countries,” WHO Deputy Director-General Ibrahima Socé Fall told the news conference.
The British health security agency noted that monkeypox had not previously been characterized as a sexually transmitted disease, but stressed that “it can be transmitted by direct contact during sexual intercourse.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added in a statement that “anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, can spread monkeypox through contact with bodily fluids, monkeypox sores, or Shared objects (such as clothing and bedding) that have been contaminated.”
They added that household disinfectants can kill the virus on surfaces and that no cases of monkeypox had been recorded for 40 years. before it reappeared in Nigeria in 2017 (see photo).
The virus, they conclude so far, does not seem to pose a significant concern in terms of spread or lethality.
What do they say in Colombia?
The National Institute of Health issued a statement explaining that the work in the country is focused on fine-tuning the Public Health Surveillance System. “We already have enhanced monitoring for illnesses or outbreaks that cause rashes or skin eruptions. We did an analysis of the situation with the CDC and we are already building a surveillance guideline for health services.” They add that the efforts are oriented towards the better functioning and permanent response of the surveillance system and that although there is a probability of contagion of monkeypox, the importation of a case of measles is more probable (and more serious).