After the registration Thursday of the first case of monkey pox (Monkeypox) in Morocco by the Ministry of Health, more than a dozen contact cases and suspected cases are being followed. The task is complex given that the incubation period of this zoonosis is long.
To date, only one positive case for Monkeypox, or monkey pox, has been recorded in Morocco, but new cases are expected to follow in the following days.
The first cause is the importation of cases which could pass through the national health system deployed at the entry points in Morocco, but above all because of the incubation period of the virus which can last up to 21 days before the first symptoms appear (normally the incubation lasts between 6 and 13 days, editor’s note), which means that over this entire period an infected person is contagious without them knowing it.
And it is precisely during this incubation period that positive cases can be imported or infect other people. For Mouad Mrabet, the coordinator of the National Center for Public Emergency Operations at the ministry, the appearance of positive cases of Monkeypox in Morocco was therefore predictable, it was “only a matter of time”.
The official revealed that since the launch of the global health alert, 7 cases were suspected to be positive for monkeypox. But the results of the lab tests came back negative. Prior to this announcement, 3 suspected cases were announced by the Ministry of Health.
Mouad Mrabet also announced the existence of 13 positive first person contact cases at present. The first Monkeypox positive case was from a European country, his identity and nationality have not been revealed.
Three levels have been addressed for these contact cases who “have no symptoms that could suggest monkeypox”, the official said, adding that they are currently under “home quarantine” the duration of which has not been set. announced.