Following the "bell" sounded by the leading health agency, the World Health Organization, about a dangerous spread of monkeypox in the summer months, the anxiety of the international community, following the coronavirus crisis, is evident about this new viral infection.
A few hours ago it was reported that in Britain cases have reached 20 while infections have been detected in over 10 countries, with a total of over 100 cases worldwide.
The question being raised is how concerned the scientific community should be about monkeypox. As the BBC reports, this is an unusual phenomenon, an unexpected outbreak. The fact that the virus is changing behaviour can only concern experts.
Until now, however, smallpox in monkeys was something that could be predicted.
The natural environment of the virus is the wild, so the infection was started, the British network writes, by someone who found himself in that environment and then started spreading the virus.
Surprisingly, for the first time in countries like Britain, cases of the viral infection are being recorded that cannot be explained.
For the first time, too, the virus is being found in people who had not travelled to west and central Africa.
[BR][BR]More cases occurred in the Netherlands, the first confirmed in Switzerland, 23 new cases in Spain and 9 in Portugal
Dutch health authorities today announced more cases of smallpox in monkeys, a day after the first case was confirmed, and the first confirmed case was also recorded today in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, while Spain announced 23 new confirmed cases.
"We have identified several patients in the Netherlands with monkeypox," the National Institute of Health said in a statement."
In Switzerland the case is a person infected through "close physical contact abroad," the canton said in a statement today.
The person consulted a doctor because he had developed a fever, rash and felt unwell, the canton said, adding that he has been isolated at home and the disease is progressing in a mild manner.
The Dutch institute did not release an exact number or details about those infected but said more information would be released after the weekend.
Health authorities in Spain yesterday announced 23 new confirmed cases of the disease, mostly in the Madrid region where the local government closed a sauna linked to the majority of cases.
This brings the total in Spain to 30 cases, while 23 confirmed cases have also been identified in neighbouring Portugal where nine were detected yesterday.
Twenty cases have been identified in Britain, where authorities are administering a smallpox vaccine to health workers and others who may have been exposed to the virus.
More than 100 cases of monkeypox, which is endemic in West Africa, have so far been detected in Europe.
Monkeypox is a rare, infectious disease similar to human smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980. Although it is milder and most patients recover within a few weeks, in rare cases it can be fatal.
Its symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and fatigue. Patients may also develop skin rashes, which often start on the face and spread to other parts of the body, including the genitals.
There is no cure for monkeypox, which is transmitted by contact with the infected patient or their bodily fluids, including saliva. The disease usually resolves on its own.
Source: protothema.gr
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