It is possible to contain the transmission of cases of monkeypox in countries where the disease is not endemic: said Maria Van Kerkhove, head of research on emerging diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO).
It is not yet clear whether the virus responsible for monkeypox has undergone a mutation: the answer can only come from the analysis of its genetic sequence.
This was stated by Rosamund Lewis, head of monkeypox research under the WHO emergency program.
First case of monkeypox in Tuscany, fourth in Italy: a 32-year-old man returned from a holiday in the Canary Islands hospitalized at the San Donato hospital in Arezzo.
This is what we read in a note released by the ASL Toscana Sud Est in which we read that "The Spallanzani National Company and Institute of Rome inform that a
32-year-old man from Arezzo returned in recent days from a holiday in the Canary Islands tested positive for monkeypox
, and is admitted to the Infectious Diseases Department of the San Donato hospital. It is a person who returned to Italy on May 15 who quickly presented the symptoms of the disease ".
Meanwhile "
in Lazio there are 15 people in isolation
while the cases remain three and they are three people hospitalized at Spallanzani in good clinical conditions".
This was declared by the Councilor for Health of the Lazio Region, Alessio D'Amato.
The 15 in isolation are contacts of the three infected who were traced back with contact tracing.
The ASL explains that the 32-year-old, "in the days between 15 and 20 May had no contact with his family, as the man lives alone. On 20 May he went to visit his general practitioner who he referred him to infectious disease clinics ": he was" immediately taken in charge by the doctors of the ward as he
had skin lesions suggestive of the infection
".
The Spallanzani Institute was thus contacted "both for an opinion on the lesions, confirming the clinical suspicion placed in Arezzo as they
were similar to those of the 3 patients hospitalized by them.
, both for sending the samples for laboratory confirmation ". The swabs were sent on May 21 to the Spallanzani virology laboratory and" the following day - continues the ASL - the positivity of all the samples examined was communicated " .
At the same time, the ASL prevention service "has taken steps to identify all the contacts of the person who have been reached and for which a surveillance on the onset of symptoms is planned for the next 21 days. The symptoms and signs to look out for are skin lesions (vesicles and pustules), fever, malaise and swollen lymph nodes ".
Most of the current cases of monkeypox in Europe "have presented with mild disease symptoms and, for the wider population, the
likelihood of spread
is very low."
Thus Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Ecdc), who published an initial risk assessment of the disease.
"However, the likelihood of further spread of the virus through close contact, for example during sexual activities between people with multiple partners, is considered to be high," the ECDC assessment reads.