This weekend, Oslo Municipality stated that they were working on it infection tracing after a foreign person, who visited Oslo in May, had monkey pox confirmed in his home country.
The person in question had symptoms during the visit, but was only diagnosed with the infection after returning home.
Oslo Municipality has worked with FHI to map who could have been exposed to infection during the visit.
On Monday, the acting chief infection control doctor in Oslo, Miert Skjoldborg Lindboe, states that the infection tracking has been completed.
– The movements of the person in question have been mapped and there is nothing to indicate that the person in question has been in some places where there is a risk of the spread of infection, says Skjoldborg Lindboe to TV 2.
Get close contacts
– Do you have any suspected cases of monkey cups in Oslo now?
– No. A small number of people are defined as indirect close contacts and with a low probability of infection, he says.
Monkey cups have been discovered in a number of European countries recently, including in Sweden. The virus is not very contagiousas one must have very close contact with someone who is infected, in order to become infected themselves, for example through sexual intercourse.
– How do you assess the probability of an outbreak in Oslo?
– It is considered small now, but we are improving that we get cases in Oslo.
Alerts risk assessment
Nor nationally, there are some suspected cases of monkey cups now, FHI informs TV 2.
– It is quite possible that we get some cases here at home with people infected abroad. They may again infect some close contacts, especially intimate partners, in this country, says chief physician Preben Aavitsland in FHI.
He points out that there have been imported cases of monkey pox in Europe before, but that it usually did not lead to any further infection, at least not outside the household.
– Monkey cups do not spread so easily between humans. A major epidemic is not likely as we know the virus now, says Aavitsland.
He states that FHI will publish a risk assessment of monkey cups in a few days.
– Kristiansand 20200317. Chief physician Preben Aavitsland at the National Institute of Public Health. Photo: Tor Erik Schrøder / NTB Photo: Tor Erik Schrøder
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New spreading pattern
Aavitsland believes that the pattern of spread is new in that the virus has entered environments of men who have intimate contact with other men.
– In such environments, it may be better for outbreaks with more infected people, says the superior.
Aavitsland asks men who have sex with men to be careful.
– The cases in Europe have mainly been among men who have sex with men. Norwegian men who have sex with men should therefore now be careful about having intimate contact with new partners or visiting sex clubs, especially abroad. Condoms do not protect against monkey cups, says the superior.
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