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On July 23, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a public health emergency, causing multiple unknowns to arise in the networks around this pathology. To answer some of them, the team at the whistle en la Calle organized the forum chat “Monkey pox: a new pandemic?”, which was held on August 2 through WhatsApp.
The event corresponds to the 40th edition of Café con the whistle During 2022, it had the participation of 295 readers and the presentation of the infectologist and internist Manuel Figuera, who is also the current president of the Venezuelan Society of Infectious Diseases.
When starting the forum chat, the first thing Figuera pointed out was that monkeypox is not yet a pandemic, but the correct measures must be taken at the international level to avoid it. The guest clarified that the new WHO classification allows the approval of a greater amount of resources to combat the disease and prevent infections from continuing to increase without any control.
Figuera explained that the smallpox vaccine is effective against the simian strain, but there is little immediate availability because the human strain has been considered eradicated since 1979. For the infectologist, the keys to stopping the advance of this pathology are:
- Quickly identify cases and isolate them to cut the chain of contagion.
- Create a map of people who have had close contact with infected people and isolate them.
- Increase the production of the smallpox vaccine and create an emergency vaccination plan, especially in the population at risk.
- Educate the population about this disease, to avoid generating alarm or discrimination around it.
- Inform the population so that they do not have close contact with people suspected of contagion until their health status is verified or the disease is overcome.
On the symptoms and prognosis of monkeypox, Figuera detailed the findings of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which evaluated 528 patients infected with this disease. These were the results:
Monkeypox is changing its patterns
Regarding the way in which the spread of this virus has developed in recent months, Figuera commented that the first cases discovered outside of Africa date back to May 2022. After this, a rapid global spread began, until recently reaching 18,000 cases distributed in more than 78 countries.
According to the infectologist, the disease is not following the typical pattern that it followed in Africa, since:
- The virus is spreading from person to person in the rest of the world, while in Africa it was from infected animals to humans.
- Transmission is by close skin-to-skin, mouth-to-skin, or mouth-to-mouth contact, especially through sexual contact. In Africa the contagion was given by bites or scratches of infected animals, or by consuming their raw meat.
- In Africa, monkeypox always showed regular lesions. Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, the lesions may be different or present in small numbers.
To conclude, Figuera invited the attendees to remain calm about this disease, inform themselves correctly and take the corresponding measures if they suspect any contagion (their own or close to them).
What are the forochats of the whistle? They are the online version of Cafe Con the whistle, an event held by the Information Citizens Management since 2019, which had to change its modality due to the COVID-19 pandemic, since March 2020. This event addresses issues of international, national, regional and local interest for communities, in different areas, and with the aim of informing, educating, as well as offering tools to the attendees so that they can use them in their day to day life. To date, our team has organized more than 200 forum chats and reached more than 50,000 users, mainly in Venezuela, but also in the rest of the world.
Peter ReyesHealth
Peter ReyesHealth