Due to the rare intercontinental transmission and the serious blow to the patient's appearance after infection, the public opinion about monkeypox virus remains high these days. Who also held an online Q & a meeting on Monday to brief on the preliminary information. About ten days ago, the UK reported two confirmed and one suspected cases of monkeypox, the first time the virus has been infected outside Africa in a year. In the past week, there have been a large number of cases across Europe and the United States. The who expects that as more doctors begin to pay attention to relevant characteristics, it is believed that more cases may appear in the follow-up.
Dr Rosamund Lewis, head of the WHO smallpox research project, said that in the past five years, we have seen only individual cases of monkeypox in Europe and only among travelers. Therefore, this round of epidemic is also the first time we have observed so many countries and reported confirmed cases without living history in epidemic areas in Africa.
The communication chain presents obvious characteristics
Who officials revealed that although monkeypox virus itself is not a sexually transmitted disease, the characteristics of this round of surge of cases show that the transmission chain is concentrated on men who have intimate contact with the same sex.
In response to this situation, the US CDC also called on this group on Monday to pay attention to the corresponding symptoms. At present, one confirmed case of monkeypox and four cases of orthopox virus have been reported in the United States, distributed in Massachusetts, New York City, Florida and Utah.
However, the who also stressed that from the principle of virus transmission, anyone can come into contact with the virus and be infected. According to previous human studies, monkeypox virus is mainly transmitted through various forms of contact and enters the human body through damaged skin or mucous membrane. According to the CDC report, respiratory droplets are also potential transmission channels, but this method requires long-term face-to-face contact because the transmission distance of droplets is relatively limited.
Former FDA director Scott Gottlieb said in a television interview on Monday that the tricky part of monkeypox virus is that it can survive stably outside the human host, so it can be transmitted through the object surface, and the incubation period can be as high as 21 days. Therefore, damage may be caused in areas where the disease is spreading, such as people's reluctance to try on clothes in retail stores.
Dr. Gottlieb also said that he did not think that monkeypox virus would spread uncontrollably as Americans tolerated novel coronavirus, but now it is possible that the virus has entered the community. If the fact is more common than the known situation, it is difficult to kill it.
According to the popular science of CDC, although this intercontinental transmission is the West African monkeypox virus with low mortality, according to the data of Africa, the mortality can still reach 10%. Who epidemiologist van kirhoff revealed that observations also from Africa showed that the smallpox vaccine was about 85% effective against monkeypox. However, since such vaccines are not widely available at present, it is necessary to consult with manufacturers to reserve a batch of vaccines for high-risk groups.