Monkeypox: New Epidemic?

Experts warn against getting too excited

Created: 05/24/2022, 07:44

By: Alexander Kaindl

In Germany there are the first cases of monkeypox.

Specialists are currently not assuming that there will be a new epidemic after Corona.

Berlin - First Corona, now monkeypox.

Is society slipping from one health crisis to the next?

The new disease has been dominating the headlines for a few days, and cases in Europe are increasing.

In Germany, there were initially patients in Munich and Berlin.

Are the warnings and concerns expressed by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach justified?

After more than two years of the corona pandemic, are we now threatened with the next phase with vaccinations, isolation, quarantine and death?

Experts almost completely rule out this scenario, they do not see a new epidemic looming.

Monkeypox: Proven infections in German federal states (as of May 24, 2022, 7:30 a.m.)

• Bavaria

• Berlin

• Baden-Wuerttemberg

• Saxony-Anhalt

Monkeypox: New Epidemic?

Experts warn against getting too excited

Tobias Tenenbaum, Chairman of the German Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases, made this attitude clear to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Tuesday).

Tenenbaum explained: "The danger situation is low because the virus is only passed on through close physical contact, i.e. through body fluids or crusts, and not through droplet infection such as sneezing, coughing or speaking."

The corona-related vigilance will lead to the rapid identification of contact persons of infected people.

There is “probably no new epidemic coming our way”.

The President of the Professional Association of Pediatricians (BVKJ), Thomas Fischbach, told the "NOZ" that the monkeypox virus was "far less contagious than Corona" and was almost only transmitted through "close physical contact and bodily fluids".

Children who, at least according to data from Africa, have a higher mortality rate are not among those with an increased risk of infection.

Mature oval monkeypox viruses (left) and spherical immature virions under the electron microscope.

© picture alliance/dpa/Russell Regner/CDC/AP/Cynthia S. Goldsmith

Lauterbach speaks at press conference about monkeypox

On Tuesday afternoon, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wants to comment on the course of action after the occurrence of the first cases of monkeypox in Germany on the sidelines of the German Doctors' Day in Bremen.

Doctor President Klaus Reinhardt and President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, will also attend the press conference.

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The opposition Union parliamentary group called on Lauterbach to launch an education campaign.

"Minister Lauterbach must inform the population about the risks of monkeypox through a detailed communication offensive in order to prevent unnecessary scaremongering," said health politician Stephan Pilsinger (CSU) to the editorial network Germany (RND/Tuesday).

Monkeypox: what are the symptoms?

Fever, headache, muscle pain and skin rash

The German Hospital Society (DKG) warned to be vigilant.

At the same time, however, the head of the association, Gerald Gaß, told the RND: "According to the current state of knowledge, we do not have to fear a monkeypox pandemic."

What happens to the body when infected with monkeypox?

The virus usually causes only mild symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain and skin rash.

However, monkeypox can also have severe courses, and fatal illnesses are possible in individual cases.

The consequences of surviving an infection can be scarring and, rarely, blindness.