The alert is also triggered in Veneto for monkeypoxdiagnosed on May 4th in the UK on a man from Nigeria and so far rampant in 80 patients between Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the United States. Three men, hospitalized at the Spallanzani Institute in Rome in minor conditionsare currently the only infected subjects in our country, but the Ministry of Health raised the alert with a circular sent on May 16 to the Regions. And on May 19 from Palazzo Balbi a note was sent out for the primary care doctors and for urologists, dermatologists, infectious diseases and family doctors, in which we read: We ask that we consider monkeypox infection in the differential diagnosis in patients with vesicular rash, especially in MSM (men who have sex with other men, ed). Suspected cases must be isolated and tested promptly and, once anonymized, reported to the Region. Healthcare professionals attending cases must wear suitable personal protective equipment. For confirmed cases, tracing activities must be implemented immediatelyincluding healthcare and non-healthcare professionals who have had contact with patients during their stay in healthcare facilities.
Children and adults born after 1981 are the most exposed
It must be said that Professor Emanuele Nicastridirector of the Division of High Intensive Care Infectious Diseases at Spallanzani, stressed: There is still no certainty that this disease particularly affects men who have sexual relations with other men, so we do not create unnecessary ghettoizations. Try to shed some light on Professor Antonella Violabiologist at the University of Padua and scientific director of the Citt della Speranza Pediatric Research Institute: Children and adults born after 1981 have an increased risk of contracting monkeypox, but the number of infections is still low, so no alarmism. Young people are not vaccinated against smallpox, so immunity at the community level has decreased, and frequent travel also promotes the circulation of the virus. We cannot exclude that it has changed and has become more transmissible to men. Monkeypox predominantly affects these and other wild animals, only sometimes does it pass to humans. The circular sent by the Ministry of Health to the Regions explains that generally not dangerous, but in some cases the mortality rate is significant: for the West African strain about 1%, for the Congo strain it can reach 10%. Contagion occurs mainly by contact with infected animals or people who have stayed in areas at risk, through direct contact with the vesicles, with body fluids, droplets of saliva and contaminated clothing.
Incubation from 5 to 21 days
The incubation period generally ranges from 5 to 21 days – continues the note from the ministry -. Known risk factors are contact with animals through hunting and game consumption. It is a virus similar to that of human smallpox and in fact vaccination against the latter also protects against infection in monkeys. But the smallpox vaccine, after the unification of Italy, mandatory for all newborns starting from 1888, no longer imposed since 1981, as in May 1979 the World Health Organization declared the disease eradicated. possible a return of the obligation? too early to draw conclusions – says Professor Viola – so far, monkeypox has not spread widely in humans. We hope that this time too the infections will stop at a few cases.
Transmission through sexual intercourse
When should we worry? Symptoms are fever, body aches, and later chickenpox-like blisters and pustulesespecially on the face and in the genital areas – explains the Professor Evelina Tacconelli, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Verona and head physician of the Scaligera hospital -. In the UK there appears to be a number of cases associated with sexual intercourse, for this reason, attention is required in the Infectious, Urological and Dermatological Centers which also manage cases of sexually transmitted diseases. At the moment there are no reports of infected in Veneto – adds Dr. Biagio Epifani, director of the Mirano Emergency Department and president of Simeu, category acronym, for Veneto, Bolzano and Trento -. The disease is transmitted by very close contact, through biological fluids and mucous membranes. The Covid emergency has taught both health professionals and citizens a certain caution. We always use personal protective equipment and there is good sensitivity among people. For any infected, contact tracing is triggered, that is, the tracing of close contacts. According to Spallanzani there are about ten per patient.
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May 21, 2022 (change May 21, 2022 | 20:35)
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