Doctors and organizations agree: Mpox does not have the conditions for Covid-19

National Agencies

*** The clade 1b strain has raised global concern because it appears to spread more easily through routine close contact.

Julio Castro, a surgeon, infectious disease specialist, professor at the UCV and member of the Network of Doctors for Health, explained that the disease mpox, previously known as “monkeypox” began through direct contact through sexual contact.

However, he assured that although there are cases in 150 countries that would condition or define it as an epidemic, “it does not have the same conditions or circumstances as SARS-CoV-2 or Covid.”

Castro said the World Health Organization (WHO) alert is due to the fact that in the Republic of Congo, a large majority of infected children are being treated, which means that there is a new variant that is suspected to be transmitted not only sexually, but through other contact routes such as airborne through the respiratory tract.

Although this possibility is still under investigation, according to the specialist, if confirmed, it could lead to a much greater contagion scenario.

As for the symptoms, he highlighted that they are a feverish condition with skin lesions, similar to smallpox. “They are vesicle-like lesions, blisters,” which can be contagious for three to four weeks.

He also stressed that if a case is suspected, it is recommended to go to the Ministry of Health so that the relevant investigations can be carried out.

FROM THE WHO

A WHO official stressed yesterday that MPOX, regardless of whether it is the new or old strain, is not the new Covid, as authorities know how to control its spread.

“We can and must fight this virus together,” said Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, at a news conference.

“Will we then choose to put in place the systems needed to control and eliminate mpox globally? Or will we enter into another cycle of panic and neglect? How we respond now and in the years to come will be a critical test for Europe and the world,” he added.

The mpox clade 1b strain has sparked global concern because it appears to spread more easily through routine close contact. A case of this variant was confirmed last week in Sweden and is linked to a growing outbreak in Africa.

Kluge said the focus on the new clade 1 variant gives Europe an opportunity to focus on the less severe clade 2 variant, including enhanced public health advice and surveillance.

He added that approximately 100 new cases of the mpox clade 2 strain are being reported each month in the European region.

TRUE ORIGIN

The Spanish flu is not from Spain, but from the USA; the West Nile virus is not from the Nile either, but from Uganda, and something similar happens with the mpox virus. Both society and the media attribute erroneous origins to it.

Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease (like SARS-COV-2) so named when it was first detected in 1958 in a group of primates used for laboratory testing, and it took 12 years, until August 1970, to be diagnosed in a 9-month-old infant living in Bokenda, a village in the Equatorial Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The baby had been admitted to Basankusu Hospital on suspicion of having contracted smallpox, until the WHO Smallpox Reference Centre in Moscow confirmed that he was infected with the monkeypox pathogen, being, coincidentally, the only member of his family not vaccinated against smallpox.

However, the European Union’s health resources have been able to control the disease since its inception, which has not happened on the African continent due to a severe shortage of resources.

CHANGE OF TERM

The WHO warned in November 2022 that the so-called “monkeypox” would be renamed “mpox” worldwide. One of the reasons for the name change was to try to eliminate the racist associations that arose during the first strain in Europe. As it is a viral disease found primarily on the African continent – ​​although it did not originate there – many took advantage of the situation to use the term “monkey” as an insult towards black people. The health authority therefore asked the media and official bodies to start using both names for the disease interchangeably until society became accustomed to the new one.

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