What do we know about the spread and dangers of viruses?

2024-08-20 16:45:31

“Mpox is not coronavirus”Hans Kluge, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) European division, insisted on Tuesday, August 20, that the United Nations organization had declared a major public health emergency over the disease a week earlier. ), which has caused at least 19,000 cases and 548 deaths on the continent since the beginning of the year. Answers to key questions about epidemics in many African countries.

How is it different from monkeypox?

No, they are all the same disease. The World Health Organization decided on November 28, 2022changing the official name of monkeypox, Monkeypox in English. The decision, unusual during an epidemic, comes in response to ‘Racist and stigmatizing remarks’ Targeting patients, primarily the African population and the gay community.

The virus retains the name “monkeypox virus”. It comes from the environment where it was first discovered: in 1958 in Copenhagen, Denmark, where a group of monkeys imported for research developed smallpox-like symptoms. It was not until much later, in 1970, that the first human case was discovered in a 9-month-old child in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Since then, studies have shown that the primary animal reservoir, the species in which the virus spreads in nature, is rather found in rodents, specifically tree squirrels, although even monkeys can be contaminated.

the term “Pox” refers to smallpox (smallpox English), belongs to the orthopoxvirus family and is a pathogen that causes skin rashes. There is strong cross-immunity between different members of this small family, meaning that an infection caused by one person can provide good protection to others. This is why, to combat mpox, health authorities recommend using vaccines originally developed against smallpox, such as the Bavarian Nordic vaccine. The latter is caused by another orthopoxvirus relative: cowpox, a virus that affects dairy cows (dairy cow Latin) He made history by naming the vaccination after himself.

With Covid-19, why do we talk about “clades” rather than “variants”?

There are currently four viruses that cause MPOX disease circulating. To designate them, experts use “clades” instead of “variants.” These terms do not imply the same degree of genetic proximity.

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