The Pan American Health Organization has clarified a series of doubts about the new outbreak that appears in different countries of the world, monkeypox.
While this outbreak is of concern, public health investigations are underway in those countries that have identified cases, including contact tracing, clinical management and isolation.
monkeypox
Monkeypox is a zoonotic viral disease (a virus transmitted to humans by animals), and can also be transmitted from person to person through close contact with an infected person.
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, and a rash that tends to focus on the face, palms, and soles of the feet. Affected individuals are contagious from the onset of symptoms until the skin lesions have completely healed.
Symptoms of monkeypox resolve on their own in most patients who receive supportive treatment. However, it is important to reduce the risk of infection by limiting contact with people with suspected or confirmed monkeypox.
Historically, the transmission of monkeypox from human to human has been limited. While the risks to the general public are low, the World Health Organization is responding to this event as a high priority to prevent further spread.
The World Health Organization will study whether the monkeypox virus has mutated or not
The World Health Organization has said it will study whether or not the monkeypox virus has mutated, although there is currently no evidence for this.
The organization will invite virologists and other experts to study the genetic sequences that arrive from confirmed cases.
“We don’t have the answer yet. We don’t know if it’s changing. What we can say is that it’s a DNA virus. It’s one of the largest, if not the biggest, viruses known. The mutation rate is much lower than RNA viruses,” said Rosamund Lewis, head of the smallpox file. In the WHO emergency programme: “There is no evidence yet of mutations in the virus itself.”
As of Tuesday, the number of cases worldwide is known to be 131. The countries reporting the highest number of infections are Spain (40), Portugal (37) and the United Kingdom (20).
Cases have so far been confirmed in 17 countries, mostly European, although infections have also been identified in Pakistan (2), Israel (1), Canada (5), the United States (2) and Australia (2).
More than a hundred confirmed and suspected cases in Europe and North America were not serious, said Maria Van Kerkhove, a zoonosis specialist, who explained that the infection is very different from that of COVID-19 because close physical contact is required. skin with skin.
with information from The Pan American Health Organization and the United Nations News Agency
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