“WHO and its partners are working to better understand the extent and cause of a monkeypox outbreak. The virus is endemic in some populations in several countries, causing occasional outbreaks among locals and travellers. The recent outbreaks reported in 11 countries so far are atypical as they occur in non-endemic countries.” With this brief statement and the announcement that it has convened an emergency meeting of its ‘Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential’ (STAG-IH) to define the scope of the situation, the World Organization of Health shows that the presence of this virus requires special attention.
In fact, Since the United Kingdom announced on May 7 that it had identified the first human case of this infection outside of Africa, reports from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, France, Belgium, Switzerland and outside Europe have gradually been added. United States, Israel and Australia, to the point that nearly a hundred cases have already been counted and just over 50 are being investigated with a common characteristic: the virus does not normally circulate in those countries.
(You may be interested: Monkeypox: what is it and what measures will Colombia take?)
For now, the world is awaiting the guidance that the WHO provides in this regard, so in countries – such as Colombia – that are still free of this virus, they await more details regarding an entity that is already under the gaze of the scientific community. world.
How it started?
Until a few weeks ago, monkeypox was unknown in Europe, but on Saturday, May 7, the UK Health Security Agency reported the first case diagnosed in London in a person with a history of recent travel to Nigeria, so believed that it was in that country that he contracted the infection.
However, a week later, other cases were identified that were not related to the one already described or to trips abroad, so the alarms went off that promoted their search.
Portugal, in those days, reported three cases and made it clear that it had others pending confirmation; Spain joined with 7 cases and more than 20 to be confirmed and thus countries were added until reaching the number that already worries the WHO.
(You can consult: Monkeypox and human smallpox: these are the similarities and differences)
According to the health authorities, the sum of reports from various places generates concern, although Most experts point out that there is still not enough information on the viral dynamics in each of these outbreaks and their possible routes of transmissionso for now they state that there are no reasons for alarm in the regions or of general risk of transmission.
In this sense, the National Infection Service of the United Kingdom made it clear a few days ago that “monkeypox does not spread easily between people and the risk to the public is very low”.
Naturally, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this type of news produces fear at all levels and to make it a little clearer, the University of Southampton stated that it does not believe that the population should think that the levels of contagion can reach those of the pandemic and reaffirms it by saying that, unlike Sars-CoV-2 (regarding which nothing was known when the first cases were reported), this smallpox is a known disease for which vaccines have already been developed and there are experiences from others. buds.
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On the other hand, says health specialist Pedro León Cifuentes, one must be calm and prudent in order not to promote false alarms, but neither let things go by as if they did not exist, which is why he recommends taking information from serious sources and trusting that the pandemic it has left much more effective monitoring and epidemiological surveillance systems, with which it is possible to act quickly.
The fact that this virus has been known since the 1950s and that in 1970 it had already been identified in humans, in addition to knowing its reservoirs and the most common form of transmission – which is contact with infected animals – generates some peace of mind, as well as the fact, as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, that Although there are no specific treatments so far, “outbreaks can be controlled with certain existing resourcessuch as some antivirals and immunoglobulins, without neglecting the fact that there are vaccines that are being investigated”.
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For its part, in Colombia, the National Institute of Health issued a statement in which it calls on the territorial entities to reinforce surveillance and report suspected cases under the potential diagnosis of “monkey pox”.
The truth is that never before have so many cases been registered simultaneously in several countries without there being a link between those affected and trips to the African continent, and these are sufficient reasons to maintain vigilant vigilance, Cifuentes concludes.
What you need to know regarding the disease
It is a zoonosis (which can pass from animals to humans) caused by a virus of the Orthopoxvirus genus, to which the smallpox virus also belongs.
Its natural reservoir are African primates and rodents.
It was first identified in the Congo.
Initial symptoms are fever, chills, muscle aches and headaches, fatigue, and swollen glands. After five days, lesions appear in the mouth and on the skin of the face and arms, the soles of the hands and feet, which progress to vesicles and pustules that become scabs following two weeks.
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