Monkeypox is back to scare. Africa has declared mpox a public health emergency for continental security. The World Health Organization has convened the Emergency Committee for today. But is Italy at risk?
“This is a different type of smallpox than the monkeypox we saw in 2022. mostly men who have sex with other men, therefore a disease that is transmitted not only through sexual intercourse – which had been contained with the effort of vaccinations and with correct behavior in that age group – Today in Africa it is affecting children and pregnant women“. The alarm was raised to Adnkronos Salute by Matthew Bassettidirector of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital in Genoa. “Risks for Italy? There could be for imported cases related to travel, in 2024 this is a disease that goes beyond the risk categories and it becomes more difficult for public health to contain it”, he underlined.
“In Italy we have a part of the population vaccinated against smallpox and a part that is not immunized. I believe that today the WHO would do well to put vaccinations against Mpox back on the future agenda – also with regard to children and Africa”. “Risks for Italy? There could be for imported cases related to travel, in 2024 this is a disease that goes beyond the risk categories and it becomes more difficult for public health to contain it”.
The Mpox that is scaring Africa, “is posing public health problems for that continent because it came out of the Democratic Republic of Congo. These are countries that have trade with Europe and Italy, this new strain of Mpox could become a problem here too”, he concludes. Today we await the WHO’s decision on whether or not to declare Mpox a global health emergency.
The monkeypox virus “is showing significant potential for diffusion”, the epidemiologist had pointed out to Adnkronos Salute in recent days Pier Luigi Lopalcoprofessor of Hygiene at the University of Salento, comments on the WHO’s decision to convene the Emergency Committee to evaluate whether to declare Mpox an international health emergency (PHEIC) again. For Lopalco, however, “it is necessary to clarify what is meant by ‘health emergency of international concern’: an event becomes a PHEIC when it assumes the potential for international diffusion and, therefore, it is important that measures are taken to limit its diffusion. The declaration of PHEIC involves some automatic mechanisms that oblige States, for example, to implement a surveillance system that allows cases to be notified directly to the WHO, which assumes an important coordinating role”.
WHO should re-declare Mpox as an international health emergency (PHEIC), says virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco. “It is clear that at this time a communication of this kind can rekindle fears, or risks offering support to those who point the finger at ‘the solid jokes of virostar who want to keep interest high for the issues they deal with’, but the problem exists and in certain contexts it is serious, not easy to manage”, observed the director of the School of Specialization in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the State University of Milan.
What worries the WHO – which has decided to convene the Emergency Committee to understand whether to restore the PHEIC status for Mpox that lasted from July 2022 to May 2023 – is the spread of the infection outside the Democratic Republic of Congo and the possibility that it will further expand within and outside Africa, explained the director general of the Geneva-based agency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a press conference. There are also fears of the effects of a ‘badder’ version of the virus, which is currently circulating in several nations on the African continent. The world is not just Italy, Pregliasco specified. “Beyond what can happen in our country and in Europe – is the warning – we must also consider the situation in other contexts, where the disease is becoming heavily evident”.
Mpox “‘is a pathology that can certainly be controlled through behaviors, if necessary also with vaccinations for targeted groups”, the expert recalls, but “in certain environments managing it involves difficulties as can be seen from the ongoing epidemics”. This is why, “with common sense, without alarmism or extremism – Pregliasco points out – I believe it is right to relaunch this infection as a problem to be addressed with an international effort on the health front and education on preventive measures”.
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