The monkeypox virus naturally affects small rodents, comes from Africa and was first described in 1970 in a small child in the Congo.
Monkeys are actually just a “false host”, but they gave the virus this name. A patient with monkeypox virus was first diagnosed outside of Africa in 2003, in the United States. The disease mostly affects younger people and is usually relatively mild: headache, slight fever, swollen lymph nodes and blisters and nodular skin changes, usually starting on the face but which can then spread to the whole body. How severe this infection is in immunocompromised patients cannot yet be clearly estimated due to a lack of experience. We know of two variants that appear differently aggressive. The Central African virus is said to cause slightly more severe symptoms than the milder West African one.
Although we still have little experience with this new zoonosis, there is reason to hope that we will not have to fear another pandemic after Corona. Until yesterday there was only one confirmed case of monkeypox in Austria. No new suspected case was reported to the authorities, according to the Ministry of Health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) puts the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox outside the usual range at around 200.
So far, no transmission from asymptomatic patients has been detected during the incubation period, but only when those affected show clearly visible skin changes. Since the incubation period lasts up to three weeks, some authorities in some countries have ordered a three-week quarantine for contact persons to be on the safe side.
During the first few days after contact, a smallpox vaccination at least prevents a more severe course. Only in the case of more intensive contact, such as sexual activity, is transmission to another person likely through bodily secretions, of course also possible through droplet infection. If the hygiene measures we are already familiar with from Covid-19 are carefully observed, based on the current state of knowledge there is no exaggerated concern that we will slide through monkeypox into the next pandemic.
Do you have questions about health? Write to OÖN doctor Johannes Neuhofer (dermatologist), who oversees this column with a team of doctors: Clemens Steinwender (cardiologist), Reinhold Függer (surgeon), Rainer Schöfl (gastroenterologist), Josef Hochreiter (orthopaedist), Werner Schöny (psychiatrist).
E-mail: doktor@nachrichten.at
Source: Nachrichten
