The infection is rearing its head in more and more regions outside of Africa, the World Health Organization reported.
The current version of monkeypox is spreading in central Africa and is much more virulent than the previous one, explained virologist Miklós Rusvai on InfoRádio. While the death rate of the previous version did not even reach one percent, the current one is roughly between seven and ten percent, so the danger is greater from this point of view, and in Africa it is a particularly big problem.
According to the virologist, it could even become a pandemic if we handle things very improperly.
During the epidemic two years ago, nearly 100,000 people in 117 countries around the world fell ill, and around 200 died from the infection, all of which was caused by a weak version of the monkeypox virus, the researcher reminded.
The release of the virus depends on two factors, according to the expert.
On the one hand, the management of the situation in Africa, since even now the epidemic can spread because religious wars and tribal wars are raging in the affected countries, for example the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon or Niger, the central government is weak, and therefore there is no organized healthcare.
On the other hand, famine is also present, people also eat wild animals, which in turn carry the virus. What's more, people usually get it from animals, and then they pass the pathogen on among themselves in tribal communities, sexually, Miklós Rusvai listed.
"The local spread of the virus is assured, and the world is handling or can handle the epidemic badly," said the virus researcher. He stated: there is a vaccine against the pathogen, the smallpox vaccine also protects against monkeypox very well, and a few hundred thousand of these have already arrived in the affected countries.
In total, hundreds of millions of people live in the region, which means that this is a small amount, but at the same time, the vaccine is not cheap.
The virologist added: if the developed world is stingy now and does not provide the vaccine even at a lower price, and if the local authorities cannot rise above the contradictions that hinder the efficiency of the health sector, then this could even lead to a pandemic.
According to Miklós Rusvai, we have every reason to associate monkeypox with blackpox here in Europe, being "relatives". However, he reminded that the former has a much higher mortality rate of 20-25 percent, especially among children. He noted, however, that even in the 1960s, cases of smallpox with a sometimes fatal outcome appeared in England.
The symptoms of the current version are quite characteristic, although they appear quite late, it can take up to ten days before detection, and patients can still be infected and carry the virus. He pointed out that contact tracing, home quarantine, the start of vaccinations, the so-called focal vaccination, i.e. the immunization of family members, are all important protective tools. Miklós Rusvai believes that this can prevent the spread of the virus in developed countries.
Cover image: Monkey pox threatens
Source: Freepik.com
