Smallpox monkeys: WHO, possible to stop virus transmission – Health

It is possible to contain the transmission of cases of monkeypox in countries where the disease is not endemic: said Maria Van Kerkhove, head of research on emerging diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Early identification and isolation of” monkeypox “cases are part of the measures recommended by WHO and ECDC,” Van Kerkhove stressed, adding that there are currently no serious cases.

It is not yet clear whether the virus responsible for monkeypox has undergone a mutation: the answer can only come from the analysis of its genetic sequence. This was stated by Rosamund Lewis, head of monkeypox research under the WHO emergency program.

“Several cases of monkeypox have been identified among men who have sex with men, but it is not a homosexual disease, as some people have tried to label on social networks.” This was highlighted by Andy Seale, strategic consultant for the WHO global programs on HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections.

First case of monkeypox in Tuscany, fourth in Italy: a 32-year-old man returned from a holiday in the Canary Islands hospitalized at the San Donato hospital in Arezzo. This is what we read in a note released by the ASL Toscana Sud Est in which we read that “Spallanzani National Company and Institute of Rome inform that a 32-year-old man from Arezzo who returned from a holiday in the Canary Islands a few days ago and tested positive for monkeypox, and is hospitalized in the Infectious Diseases department of the San Donato hospital. It is a person who returned to Italy on 15 May who quickly presented the symptoms of the disease “.

Meanwhile “in Lazio there are 15 people in solitary confinement while the cases remain three and they are three people hospitalized at Spallanzani in good clinical conditions “. This was stated by the Lazio Region Health Councilor, Alessio D’Amato. The 15 in isolation are contacts of the three infected people who have been traced back with contact tracing.

The ASL explains that the 32-year-old, “in the days between 15 and 20 May had no contact with his family, as the man lives alone. On 20 May he went to visit his general practitioner who he sent him to infectious disease clinics “: he was” immediately taken in charge by the doctors of the ward since had skin lesions suggestive of infection“. The Spallanzani Institute was thus contacted” both for an opinion on the lesions, confirming the clinical suspicion placed in Arezzo as they were similar to those of the 3 patients hospitalized by themboth for sending the samples for laboratory confirmation “. The swabs were sent on May 21 to the Spallanzani virology laboratory and” the following day – continues the ASL – the positivity of all the samples examined was communicated ” .

At the same time, the ASL prevention service “has taken steps to identify all the contacts of the person who have been reached and for which a surveillance on the onset of symptoms is planned for the next 21 days. The symptoms and signs to look out for are skin lesions (vesicles and pustules), fever, malaise and swollen lymph nodes “.

Most current cases of monkeypox in Europe “have presented with mild disease symptoms and, for the broader population, thediffusion ability is very low. “So Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Ecdc), who published a first risk assessment of the disease.” However, the probability of further spread of the virus through one close contact, for example during sexual activities between people with multiple partners, is considered high “, reads the ECDC evaluation.

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