New epidemic – Should we fear monkeypox detected in Switzerland?

– Should we fear the monkey pox detected in Switzerland?

The disease, active in certain African regions, is experiencing an unprecedented expansion in Europe. People usually recover spontaneously.

Published today at 07:30

In the sick, it is typical to develop a rash with vesicles or pustules. These often start on the face, before spreading to other parts of the body.

(Keystone/AP/CDC )

And smallpox case of the monkey was diagnosed in the canton of Bern. The disease was confirmed on Saturday, following analyzes at the Spiez laboratory and at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). According to the “NZZ am Sonntag”, the patient, a middle-aged man infected in a European country, has mild symptoms and has isolated himself. His potential contacts have been informed.

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What are we talking regarding?

“Monkey pox is not smallpox, this disease which killed 30% of infected people and which was eradicated in 1980”, underlines epidemiologist Antoine Flahault. In fact, the name smallpox is given to many pathologies. The virus that concerns us here was discovered in the 1950s in a Danish pet shop and affected primates in captivity. But its reservoir is rather made up of rodents from equatorial Africa.