Until this August 22 there were registered 273 monkeypox infections In colombia. From the Ministry of Health they announced the arrival of biologicals to deal with the circulation of this virus in the national territory.
“There is a vaccine and it is 100% effective in preventing death and 80% effective in avoiding hospitalization. It turns out that the vaccine has a monopolistic production in the world and it is scarce, ”explained the Minister of Health, Carolina Corcho, and added that they will arrive in Colombia 5,600 doses of the biological in the next few days
These vaccines will arrive in the country as part of a management of the Pan American Health Organization, an entity that acquired 100,000 doses to distribute among all Latin American countries.
“Here there are some very demanding clauses that have to do with the non-disclosure of prices. We met to make a decision regarding the acquisition or not of more seismic smallpox vaccines”, added Corcho and assured that, for now, the decision of other purchases will be reserved by the government.
“In the medium term we will analyze other laboratories that also begin to produce the vaccine to access them in conditions of equity and in guarantee of fundamental rights,” added the head of the Health portfolio.
Las 5,600 vaccines purchased by Colombia will be applied to people who were close contacts of people who tested positive for the virus.
According to the latest report from the National Institute of Health (INS), delivered on August 22, cases of monkeypox have already been registered in Colombia in 13 departments. Bogotá is the territory with the most infections when reporting 227 people infected.
By number of infected, the departments that follow Bogotá are Antioquia (14) and Tolima (6).
How is monkeypox spread?
It is transmitted mainly by have close contact with infected people, your skin, or your fluids. Although for now it is not proven that it is a sexually transmitted disease, sexual intercourse can be a risk of contagion because it involves close contact.
It is also believed that the virus can be transmitted through objects of common use such as clothing, sheets and different fabrics that have not been disinfected. In turn, toys and sexual objects might cause an infection, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States.
The symptoms
From the Ministry of Health and the INS they indicated that the most frequent symptoms are fever, headache and body ache, hives, pustules or accesses on the skin.
“Often following 1 to 3 days of the onset of fever, the characteristic skin lesions appear. Symptoms can appear between 5 to 21 days following having contact with a sick person, ”explained the INS.
