Not even the time to spread over half the world, that the monkeypox already seems to be scarier than the coronavirus. Britain has decided to vaccinate all close contacts of confirmed cases. The United States is working to understand if and which product should be inoculated. Joe Biden says he is worried and invites the whole world to be on the alert. Virologists are back in vogue, some even suggesting various sexual abstinences. And WHO, ECDC, EMA and the various Italian institutes do their job, preaching caution.
Francesco Vaia, director general of the Spallanzani Institute, which is treating three of the five cases of monkeypox registered in Italy, however, invites us not to make precocious alarms. “It is a disease that is distantly related to the old smallpox – he explains to Fourth Republic – It is a completely alarming phenomenon but one that deserves attention ”. Also because, for now, “hospitalized people have fairly mild symptoms. It is not an alarming picture ”.
The Italian cases are all connected to the Canary Islands. “Contagion occurs through close contact: fluids, biological liquids, very close relationships,” says Vaia. “In some countries there has been growth, but we always speak of a contained phenomenon”. It is precisely at Spallanzani that the first two Chinese positive for coronavirus were hospitalized. It was 2020. “Before understanding if it can be changed, we must first isolate the virus – insists Vaia – but we don’t talk about things we don’t yet know. First we isolate it and then we see, and then we will understand if those who are vaccinated are already protected against this too “.
from the Fourth Republic of 23 May 2022