A first suspected case of monkeypox has been reported in Austria: A 35-year-old man was taken to a clinic in Vienna-Favoriten on Sunday night with typical symptoms such as a slight fever and pustules on his face. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health confirmed a corresponding message to the APA on “orf.at”. An exact diagnosis should be available by Monday morning at the latest.
Previously, cases in the neighboring countries of Germany and Switzerland had become known, as had previously been the case in Great Britain, the USA, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Canada. Monkeypox occurs primarily in Africa, making current outbreaks unusual. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other experts, the number of proofs will continue to increase in the near future.
In order to stop the spread, it is “urgently necessary” to raise awareness of the viral disease, said the WHO in Geneva on Saturday night. In addition, cases would have to be identified and isolated comprehensively, and routes of infection would have to be traced. Experts see no reason for concern for the general public.
The suspicion of the Austrian patient had already arisen in the ambulance, so he was brought to the hospital’s infectiology department. The Ministry of Health was informed of the suspected case by the responsible Viennese authorities, who are also responsible for contact tracing – the patient was isolated in accordance with the rules, said the spokesman. On Friday, health authorities announced they would be ready to start contact tracing earlier this week after the World Health Organization (WHO) called for all contacts of infected people to be traced.
Three cases of the viral disease have now been confirmed in Germany, one in Munich and two in Berlin. As of Saturday, the WHO reports around 90 confirmed infections and 30 suspected cases in countries where the virus, which is native to West and Central Africa, does not normally occur.
“We don’t have to fear a new pandemic,” said virologist Gerd Sutter from the Ludwig-Maxiliams-University in Munich in an interview published on Saturday by “Zeit Online”. Monkeypox viruses are different pathogens than the triggers of human smallpox.
The disease is one of the zoonoses, i.e. diseases that repeatedly spread from animals to humans and are hardly ever transmitted between humans. “Since we hardly have any immunity against the classic smallpox virus, which has been eradicated in nature for more than 40 years, monkeypox also spreads from time to time, but only selectively. They don’t do it nearly as efficiently as the flu or Sars-CoV-2,” said the smallpox virologist.
According to the WHO, the currently identified diseases mainly – but not exclusively – affect men who have same-sex sex. In all cases that are currently being genetically analyzed, the pathogen is the West African variant, including the patient in Munich. In comparison to the Central African variant, it generally leads to milder courses.
“It is generally assumed that West African monkeypox has a mortality rate of one percent overall, which mainly affects children under the age of 16,” said Clemens Wendtner, chief physician of the infectiology clinic of a hospital in Schwabing in Munich. “But you have to keep in mind that these data from Africa are not necessarily transferrable to the healthcare system in Europe or the USA, where mortality would be lower. This is a disease that I don’t think has the potential to pose a massive threat to the population.”
According to health authorities, the virus usually causes only mild symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain and skin rash. However, monkeypox can also have severe courses, and fatal illnesses are possible in individual cases. The pathogen virus is transmitted primarily through direct contact or contact with contaminated materials.
Wendtner believes that caution is required in immunocompromised patient groups, i.e. those with weak immune systems. “This includes, for example, HIV patients without adequate drug disease control, but also, for example, tumor patients with severe immunosuppression, for example after stem cell therapy.” It is being discussed whether these risk groups can be protected with a vaccination. The vaccine Imvanex has been approved in the EU since 2013. The vaccination of contact persons is also currently being examined. The WHO wanted to convene experts to discuss possible vaccination recommendations.
In addition to vaccination, the drug Tecovirimat is a treatment option for monkeypox that has been approved in the EU. However, the WHO pointed out that the antidotes are currently not available across the board. Travel restrictions or cancellations of events in affected countries are currently not necessary from the WHO’s point of view. Contagion can occur at mass events, but precautionary measures against Covid-19 would also work against monkeypox.
Uniform international guidelines are needed to decide whether monkeypox should be one of the notifiable diseases in the future and whether infected people should also be quarantined.
From: apa
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