WHO sends a message of reassurance: monkeypox is not the new Covid

RTVE.es

Ginebra.-The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday issued a message of reassurance in the face of a new outbreak of MPOX (previously known as monkeypox) in Africa and a single case detected in Europe, in an attempt to contain alarmist information and rumours surrounding this disease and its mode of transmission.

“MPOX is not COVID (…) Based on what we know, MPOX is transmitted mainly through skin-to-skin contact with MPOX lesions, including during sexual intercourse,” said WHO Europe director Hans Kluge. Along the same lines, he recalled that it is known how to control this infectious disease and what are “the steps that must be taken in Europe to eliminate transmission completely.”

This same message of reassurance is being conveyed by the Spanish Association of Vaccinology, which stresses that the transmission of the monkeypox virus is “not very high” and does not entail a high risk of mortality.

“There is no chance that it will become a COVID-type epidemic,” said Jaime Pérez, president of the Spanish Association of Vaccinology (AEV), in an interview with EFE.

“Today we can rest easy. It is not a disease in which we are going to have more cases from getting on a subway car,” says this specialist in Preventive Medicine who sees no need to take specific control measures on public transport: “It is not like other viruses, it is not easily transmitted and has a low capacity for mutation.”

The president of the AEV insists that no specific measures are required for the Metro, buses or trams, although a surveillance protocol at airports for passengers from high-risk countries could be understood, depending on the assessment at any given time.

“It is not out of the question that the outbreak (which began in Africa and registered a first case of a more serious strain in Sweden) will spread worldwide because the population’s ability to move is very high, but it is not expected to affect a significant percentage. The important thing is to act at a local level (in Africa) to stop the spread,” said the Cadena Ser official.