Since the beginning of May, cases of monkeypox have been reported worldwide, unrelated to travel to countries where the virus is endemic, such as West Africa and central Africa.
When the virus reaches humans, it is mainly from various wild animals, rodents or primates for example. Human-to-human transmission is limited, says the World Health Organization (WHO).
Its symptoms resemble, in less serious, those which one observed in the past at the subjects reached of smallpox: fever, headaches, muscular pains, dorsal, during the first five days. Then appear rashes (on the face, the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet), lesions, pustules and finally scabs.
It was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in a 9-year-old boy living in an area from which smallpox had been eliminated since 1968.
Since 1970, human cases of monkeypox have been reported in 10 African countries.
In the spring of 2003, cases were also confirmed in the United States, marking the first appearance of this disease outside the African continent.
How is it transmitted?
Infection in initial cases results from direct contact with blood, body fluids, or skin or mucous membrane lesions of infected animals.
Secondary, i.e. person-to-person, transmission can result from close contact with infected secretions from the respiratory tract, skin lesions of an infected person, or objects recently contaminated with body fluids or materials from the lesions. of a patient.
On Monday, the WHO said it was taking a close interest that some of the cases in the UK appear to have been passed on within the gay community.
“It is probably too early to draw conclusions on the mode of transmission or to assume that sexual activity was necessary for transmission”, however warned Michael Skinner, virologist at Imperial College London, with the organization Science media center (SMC).
How serious is it?
Monkeypox usually heals on its own and symptoms last 14 to 21 days. Severe cases occur more frequently in children and are related to the extent of exposure to the virus, the patient’s medical condition and the severity of complications.
According to the epidemics, the lethality rate might vary enormously but it remained below 10% in all the documented cases, mainly in young children.
“It is estimated that the West African strain, from which the British cases suffer, has a mortality rate of around 1%. There is also a strain found in the Congo region which can be fatal in 10% of cases, but the UK cases do not have this strain,” said Simon Clarke, professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, Australia. SMC.
Is there a treatment?
There are no specific treatments or vaccines for monkeypox, but outbreaks can be contained, says the WHO. Smallpox vaccination has been proven in the past to be 85% effective in preventing monkeypox, but the vaccine is no longer available to the general public following it was discontinued following the global eradication of the disease. smallpox.