Dr Isabel Villegas Mota, head of the Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Unit of the National Institute of Perinathology, indicated that if a good case check is not done, monkeypox can become disproportionate, due to the large channels of spread that infections now have due to human mobility.
“As a public health emergency it cannot be minimized. The fact that we have just experienced a pandemic with unprecedented repercussions does not mean that this is less relevant. It is a disease that we did not have in the community and, although there are some populations that have been considered at risk, we are all potentially exposed, ”she stressed.
problems to diagnose
The expert pointed out that it is difficult to diagnose monkeypox because it can be confused with other viral infections. It is also difficult to prove that it caused the deaths of people, especially in patients with other diseases such as HIV or cancer.
“Now we see it with fewer lesions, with a different presentation, that is, more difficult to diagnose. That is why it was even considered a practically national safety issue, because it is a biosecurity issue to make the diagnosis by sending the samples only to laboratories authorized by the National Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference (InDRE), ”he explained. .
For weeks, the Ministry of Health has been analyzing the deaths of two people who are positive for monkeypox to confirm if the cause was that disease and, to date, has not given the result.
“Suddenly it’s not that easy, because you have to review the entire medical history of the patients, of those who have died and wait for the autopsy to be done.”
He explained that monkeypox has a transmission potential of 2.13. “That means it has transmission potential to generate epidemics, and that’s what’s happening,” she said in an interview.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, this coronavirus had a potential of 1.5 and then mutated and the Omicron variant reached a transmission potential of 8.
“It became transmissible like measles, which was one of the infections with the highest transmission potential among the world’s population. Right now we have an R0 of 2.13 (for monkeypox), but this can be changed, as we have already learned, ”she warned.
