Monkeypox in Germany: Twelve new cases - RKI expects more
Created: 05/31/2022, 12:42 p.m
The RKI reports further cases of monkeypox in Germany.
Thailand cracks down on monkeypox case at airport.
Lauterbach orders vaccine.
The news ticker.
RKI reports more monkeypox cases in Germany: number rises to 33.
Monkeypox case at the airport: Flight attendants and passengers have to quarantine in Bangkok.
Monkeypox: Cases have been found in over 20 countries, including Germany.
Vaccine against the monkeypox virus: Lauterbach announces the first vaccine doses in June.
Update from May 31, 12:15 p.m
.: 12 other cases of monkeypox have been detected in Germany.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), 33 monkeypox cases have now been reported from six federal states (previous day: 21 monkeypox cases).
The virus infections therefore occurred in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt.
According to the RKI, further cases are to be expected.
According to the RKI, those affected had not previously traveled to African countries where the virus is endemic.
Currently, men who have had sexual contact with other men are particularly affected.
Close contact is required for the transmission of the pathogen, "so it can currently be assumed that the outbreak can be limited."
Monkeypox case at Bangkok airport - twelve passengers and flight attendants in quarantine
Update from May 31, 6:15 a.m
.: After contact with a monkeypox patient, twelve passengers and flight attendants in Thailand are medically observed for 21 days.
The demonstrably infected person was traveling from Europe to Australia and had spent two hours at Bangkok airport.
The man had developed symptoms of monkeypox infection after arriving in Australia.
This was confirmed by Chakkrarat Pitthaya, director of the epidemiology division of the agency for disease control.
However, the risk that the contact persons would have been infected is low.
So far they have shown no symptoms.
Update from May 31, 6:09 a.m
.: A Munich virologist warns to hurry up with monkeypox.
The international outbreak is a big unknown.
Only very short chains of infection are known from Africa, which die out after a maximum of six infected people.
This 2003 electron micrograph, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypoxviruses (l) and spherical-shaped immature virions (r).
© Cynthia S. Goldsmith/dpa
Britain reports more monkeypox cases: people should watch out for spots, blisters and ulcers
Update from May 30, 8:36 p.m
.: 71 other cases of monkeypox have been detected in Great Britain.
This increases the number of cases confirmed so far to 179, as the British health authority announced on Monday evening.
Contacts of infected people are being contacted in the UK.
People at particularly high risk are advised to isolate themselves for up to three weeks.
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Monkeypox in Germany: Lauterbach announces isolation – countries “take the situation seriously”
The health authorities recommend continuing to look out for new spots, blisters or ulcers and, if in doubt, limit their contacts, said a health expert with the authority.
According to the RKI, monkeypox cases in Germany rise to 21
Update from May 30, 1 p.m
.: The number of monkeypox cases in Germany has risen to 21. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced this on Monday.
Monkey pox cases have been reported from six federal states – Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt.
The RKI was aware of 16 cases on Friday.
According to the RKI, what is special about the cases is that the patients had not previously traveled to countries in Africa where monkeypox is endemic.
In addition, many transmissions could apparently have happened in the context of sexual activities.
"As far as is known, most of those affected do not become seriously ill," the RKI also reports.
Further cases are to be expected in Germany.
According to current knowledge, the RKI estimates the risk to the health of the general population in Germany to be low.
RKI on quarantine for monkeypox: people with risk factors should be aware of this
Update from May 30th, 11:07 a.m
.: What should be considered when a monkeypox infection is detected?
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) once again uses Twitter to point out the most important points for patients and household members in the event of a confirmed monkeypox infection.
If possible, people with risk factors
should
not be
housed in the same household as people infected with monkeypox, according to the RKI.
This includes people with a suppressed immune system, pregnant women, small children under the age of 12 or very old people.
In people with risk factors, an infection with the monkeypox virus can also be difficult, warns the RKI.
Individuals with suppressed immune systems
Pregnant women
Small children under 12 years old
Or elderly people
The RKI has summarized all the important information in a flyer on the monkeypox virus.
Isolation for a monkeypox virus infection lasts - until the scab and scabs have healed or fallen off, but "at least 21 days".
Lauterbach: The monkeypox vaccine will be available in June - but it will probably always be used on a case-by-case basis
First report from May 30, 2022
Berlin – Karl Lauterbach sees no danger of a monkeypox pandemic, but: “Nevertheless, it is not a nice disease.
We need to curb this.
We don't want it to get stuck either," said the Minister of Health in the "Report from Berlin" (
ARD
) of May 29.
The SPD politician said on the show that he expects 40,000 units to be delivered to Germany in the first two weeks of June and a further “200,000 units thereafter”.
A corresponding contract has been signed and the company is still waiting for its response.
Then a vaccination concept for Germany should also be developed.
Monkeypox vaccination probably always "case-by-case decision"
Experts do not expect vaccination against monkeypox for the general population.
"As far as is currently foreseeable, vaccination will only ever be a case-by-case decision," said epidemiologist Gérard Krause at a press briefing by the Science Media Center (SMC) on Friday.
"This is certainly not something that is generally recommended by Stiko and then offered on a broad basis." Vaccination against monkeypox will be a focused tool for special situations in a limited, clearly defined population group, according to the head of the department Epidemiology at the Braunschweig Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI).
In France, two people with risk of contact with monkeypox infected people have been vaccinated against the virus.
As the dpa news agency learned from the General Health Directorate, both people had a dose of the smallpox vaccine Imvanex administered in a hospital in Paris on Friday.
The top French health authority had previously recommended vaccination after a risky contact.
Even before monkeypox appeared in Europe, there was a vaccine against it.
Although Imvanex has so far only been approved for human smallpox in this country, experts also assume that it is effective against monkeypox.
With vaccinations in the area of known infection clusters, the outbreak could probably be significantly limited, says Ralf Bartenschlager from Heidelberg University Hospital.
Monkeypox in Germany: Lauterbach orders the first doses of vaccine against smallpox
Monkeypox is endemic in several countries in West and Central Africa, so it occurs there constantly and frequently.
Recently, however, monkeypox was also found in more than 20 other countries - among other things, there were cases of monkeypox in Germany.
Monkeypox is related to smallpox, which killed millions of people every year for centuries until the disease was eradicated in 1980.
However, monkeypox is considerably less dangerous.
Most patients recover within a few weeks, and fatal outcomes are rare.
Lauterbach had already announced that Germany had secured "up to 40,000 doses" of smallpox vaccine.
The vaccine, called Imvanex, was approved for monkeypox in the United States, he said.
It is about being prepared for any vaccinations that may be necessary for contact persons of infected people.
(AFP/dpa/frs)