The head of the infectious diseases department of the Amedeo di Savoia hospital in Turin after the WHO statement: “The exported disease has elusive symptoms, not very typical compared to those found in African subjects”
Rome. Monkeypox is not a new Covid, assures Giovanni Di Perri, head of the infectious diseases department of the Amedeo di Savoia hospital in Turin.
L‘WHO, however, has raised the alarm by declaring it a global health emergency.
“The numbers are growing so they must be monitored but the distribution of cases appears comforting”.
They are few?
“They show a poorly communicable disease for an organism that is different from those living in rural African areas where it developed. Let’s start with a macro-data: there are zero cases of monkeypox with deaths exported outside Africa. The mortality indicated from 1 to 6% is for people in African rural areas. The disease exported outside Africa, on the other hand, is scarcely transmissible ”.
But it was transmitted.
«It is transmitted when there are close contacts as happened in the case of the Antwerp festival where homosexual people met. Beware, however, the fact that they are homosexual is a casual pretext. It could also have been a meeting of Greco-Roman wrestling enthusiasts, the same thing would have happened. Close personal contacts cause the transmission. At the moment 95.5% of cases concern men, they are people who took part in that festival – or other events with the same methods of development – or who then had direct relationships with those who participated. It is therefore an epidemic that remains within the epidemiological perimeter where it was created ».
Symptoms?
«The exported disease has elusive symptoms, not very typical compared to those we find in African subjects. Skin blisters may appear quite similar to those of smallpox although of different sizes and distributed throughout the body. In reality, however, in the cases we are examining the symptoms are mild. We hardly find fever or swollen glands in the neck. In many cases it would have been difficult to even realize that we were dealing with a case of monkeypox if there had not been an alarm. ‘
Can we, therefore, consider it an epidemic under control?
“It is an epidemic that still produces cases, but they do not spread and transmit randomly as happened with Covid. They are transmitted through people who establish direct skin contact with a person who has the infection. People who are at risk because they could have these direct relationships are doing a work of prevention, warning everyone that they must take precautions and be seen at the slightest symptom ».
Do you need to get vaccinated?
“No particular initiatives have been taken at the moment except in the United States. The vaccine indicated is that against smallpox, a disease declared eradicated in the world in 1980. In Italy the vaccination campaign was abrogated in 1981 ».
And the therapy to follow?
“The FDA approved a drug a few years ago but it may not be worth taking. We know from the scientific literature that the course of this disease described up to now is truly minimal. It is true that it is the first time that we have such a vast diffusion in a population so there is no literature on the cases, but what is emerging is a comfortan picture.you”.
Are we not facing a new Covid, then?
“No, absolutely. Even those who become infected need not fear particular risks ».
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