European health agency warns Europe may not get rid of monkeypox if outbreak continues | monkeypox

We speak of an endemism if an infectious disease occurs in a certain area without patients contracting it elsewhere and if the number of infections remains fairly constant (because there are about as many new cases as there are disappearances, through healing or death).

Until now, monkeypox mainly occurred in West and Central Africa. If the disease appeared in Europe in the past, it was usually linked to travelers who had been to that region. In recent weeks, however, monkeypox has been diagnosed in several places in Europe in patients with no link to the listed areas in Africa. That means that the virus has been able to spread in Europe.

If the virus also succeeds in transferring from humans to a wild animal in Europe, the specter of the endemism looms. The animal can then serve as a reservoir for the virus, infect other animals and the virus can jump back to humans from there.

The ECDC calls the risk “very small”. Little is currently known about the suitability of European mammalian species to host monkeypox virus. the risk assessment† “However, it is likely that rodents – and squirrel species in particular – are suitable hosts. And transmission from humans to pets is also theoretically possible.”

The ECDC therefore recommends that there be close collaboration between human and animal health services to monitor exposed animals and prevent the disease from spreading to wildlife. Rapid identification, treatment and reporting of new cases is very important.

There are currently more than 260 possible or confirmed cases of monkeypox in some 20 countries and the number is steadily rising. This not only concerns European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France, but also the United States, Australia and Morocco, among others.

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