Two years after the covid pandemic and when the world thought that everything had returned to normal, the health alarms have turned on again.
The appearance in several European countries of the disease known as monkeypox has begun to cause concern in world health organizationsas several nations have reported cases.
The first record of this type of smallpox dates back to the 20th century and in 2003 in the United States there was a small outbreak that infected less than a hundred people.
Monkeypox is a type of smallpox that is transmitted from animals to humans and is, in fact, endemic in some countries of Central and West Africa. Which means that it is a disease that regularly affects the inhabitants of these countries and that, therefore, unlike covid, for example, is already known.
This smallpox was discovered for the first time in apes – hence its name – but contrary to what one might think, the disease is mainly transmitted by rodents such as rats and squirrels. These animals, which also get infected and suffer from the disease, are its main transmitters in African countries, where more outbreaks occur.
But, if it is a disease that has been known for several years and is endemic in some countries, why the global concern? The problem is that this outbreak is the largest outside of Africa since records have been recorded. More than 19 non-African countries, including Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium, have reported cases of the disease in recent weeks.
The United Kingdom is, until the closing of this edition, the country where the most cases of the disease were confirmed (71) and in the first place in which the health alarms were lit a few weeks ago.
The appearance of this outbreak, according to the health authorities of the European Union, is due to the attendance of people who are now infected at massive parties in which they had high contact with the disease. Dr. David Heymann, who was at the World Health Organization (WHO), stated that it is likely that this disease was transmitted by “sexual contact” among people who attended these massive parties, held mainly in Spain and Belgium.
In the case of infections in Germany and the United Kingdom, for example, all those infected claimed to have attended one of these parties.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of the disease typically include fever, severe headache, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes.
Three days after the onset of fever, skin rashes are reported, mostly on the hands and feet, but also on areas such as the chest, back, and even the face. These rashes can either be flat or raised and, in some cases, filled with fluid.
Along with the appearance of these rashes, the swelling of the lymph nodes is also one of the indicators that the body has to notify the disease. Symptoms usually go away after two to four weeks without any treatment.
The contagion of this disease occurs, especially, by contact with the skin of an infected person or any of the rashes.
Likewise, it is normal that, due to the poor sanitary conditions of some of the African countries where the disease is endemic, a person can become infected by contact with sheets or clothing of someone infected with smallpox.
Is there treatment?
The WHO indicates in this regard that there are no specific treatments against the disease or vaccines. However, the smallpox vaccine in general has been shown to be 85 percent effective against this variation.
Now there are two problems that appear in this scenario. In the first place, the smallpox vaccine ceased to be produced after the eradication of the disease, Therefore, in the face of an exaggerated increase in cases, vaccine supplies could become a problem, as reported by the media France 24.
Second, according to epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, most people under the age of 45 are not vaccinated against smallpox. According to figures from the United Nations Organization, this would correspond to a little less than 80 percent of the world’s population.
These two scenarios, which complement each other, are already on the radar of the health authorities.
Is there to worry?
The covid pandemic certainly set a precedent in global health. National and global authorities no longer take lightly the contagion of some virus that could stop the world again.
Belgium, for example, has already ordered extensive 21-day quarantines for people infected with monkeypox.
However, the messages from health authorities regarding this disease are ambiguous. The WHO warned that “The current situation is worrying because the spread of the disease does not resemble the typical patterns seen before”Tarik Jasarevic, European spokesman for the WHO, told the newspaper El Mundo.
However, and hence the ambiguity of the message, Jasarevic himself said that “monkeypox generally does not spread easily between people, as it requires close physical contact. This outbreak is controllable, as the risk to the general public appears to be low.”
Also, various epidemiological surveillance agencies have clarified that monkeypox does not pose a danger to the general public. Being a known disease, many health centers in different parts of the world already have established protocols to contain it and carry out adequate isolation.
For her part, the WHO leader of emerging diseases, María van Kerkhove, also sent a message of reassurance stating that, by stopping the transmission of the disease from person to person, the situation is “controllable”.
The message from the authorities seems to be, in this sense, and in the midst of the ambiguities, that we must not lose our temper, but neither must we look the other way with the outbreak of this disease.
This is why teams of scientists and world health authorities seem to be already taking the necessary measures, not only to contain, but also to better understand the disease.
In Spain, for example, A group of scientists attached to the San Carlos III Health Institute reported that the complete sequence of the virus had been identified. This fact has allowed researchers to know with more certainty the nature of the current outbreak in Europe.
Thus, they have managed to identify that the disease currently circulating on European soil belongs to the West African variant, which provides more tools when treating it.
So far, what is clear to the health authorities is that it is not another pandemic like covid. This disease, both because of its mode of contagion and because of the information available about it, is easier to contain and also to treat.
It is necessary to be alert, to remain vigilant, but not to lose your calm.