So far they barely exceed 180 cases -none serious- scattered in a dozen countries, including a suspected one in Argentina. Obviously, the news won the front page of the world media and gave a new topic of concern to infectologists and the public: it is an epidemic outbreak of a rare disease that is, until now, very rare: monkeypox.
endemic from central Africa, the first case of the current outbreak was identified in early May in England, in a traveler returning from Nigeria. So far nothing strange. However, a few days later, cases unrelated to this “zero” patient began to be confirmed in Portugal, Spain and a dozen other countries. And last Sunday the Ministry of Health reported on a possible case in CABA “with compatible symptoms. He has pustules on the body and fever. The patient, who is in good general condition, isolated and receiving symptomatic treatment, had a recent travel history to Spain”. At the close of this edition there was already a second case.
Monkeypox is a name something misleading since it is also spread through other small mammals. Its name obviously refers to the first detection -in 1958- when it was isolated in laboratory macaques.
According to the epidemiological each year a handful of thousands of cases are registered, almost all in equatorial Africa. Outside that continent, until now, few events have been isolated and always associated with Travellers or the importation of infected animals. However, according to the magazine Nature, “this time the number of cases outside of Africa, in just one week, has already exceeded the total recorded since 1970. It is precisely this rapid spread that put infectology on alert.” That and, of course, a context of global awareness of the fourth wave of SARS-CoV-2 that insists on evolving strains that are more efficient in contagion.
While the alarm is already sounding, scientists recommend avoiding alarmism. As explained at a press conference by epidemiologist Enrique Pérez, medical adviser to the Pan American Health Organization, “monkeypox is a sporadic zoonosis in Africa. It manifests with pustular eruptions, fever and malaise and is usually mild, although in a few cases it can be severe. The contagion is carried out by direct contact with the exchange of blood or fluids, for example through injuries or close contact.
Another difference with SARS-CoV-2, which, it is worth remembering, is an RNA virus and rapidly evolving, is in the genetic material of the cause of the disease. monkeypox: it’s DNA and relatively large. The clarification is important because DNA viruses are more efficient at repairing their mutations, which means that it is unlikely to suddenly mutate and become more efficient at spreading.
On the other hand, although smallpox has been extinct for decades, as a precaution some countries keep vaccine stock, as well as antiviral treatments that are believed to work. According to Pérez, for now the evolution of the outbreak is being investigated. And the recommendation is precautionary “especially for travelers whose destination is one of the endemic areas. We suggest that the countries increase epidemiological surveillance measures and care, particularly for health workers.”
