Cases of monkeypox have increased to four in Italy, with one diagnosed in Tuscany, Arezzo, and another 15 people are under observation, while over 190 cases have been identified in recent weeks in 16 countries in Europe, the United States, Canada. and Australia; there are 67 cases in Europe, according to the most recent estimates by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Ecdc), detected in eight countries. It is a complex situation and with many points still to be clarified, but for the World Health Organization (WHO) it is possible to contain the transmission.
First genetic sequence in Portugal
“We intend to stop human-to-human transmission of the virus and we are able to do so in countries where monkeypox is not endemic,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO head of emerging disease research. Furthermore, for the WHO, it is not yet clear whether the monkeypox virus has mutated and the answer could come from the first genetic sequence, obtained in Portugal and just published, from which it emerges that the viral strain that is circulating is that of ‘West Africa, less aggressive than the second known strain, originally from Central Africa.
Over 50 protected by the old vaccine
In the meantime, the WHO is preparing a 360-degree debate on the virus for next week, while the meeting of the European Union health security committee is scheduled for tomorrow. The symptoms of the cases detected in Europe appear mild, said the director of the ECDC, Andrea Ammon, who today presented an initial risk assessment of the disease. Another good news is that those over 50 appear to be protected by the smallpox vaccine made by children, said French infectious disease specialist Jean-Daniel Lelièvre, of the Henri-Modor hospital in Créteil.
The connection with the Canary Islands
One of the main questions is why, right now, a virus that has been known since 1958 and has since remained substantially confined to Africa is circulating, found virologist Francesco Broccolo, of the University of Milan Bicocca. Possible links between the cases known so far are studied and at the moment a recurring element seems to be a holiday in the Canaries, where between 5 and 15 May a very crowded event was organized in Maspalomas. The fourth Italian case, a 32-year-old man hospitalized in Tuscany, in the San Donato hospital in Arezzo, in which the diagnosis was confirmed following analyzes conducted by the Spallanzani Institute in Rome, would also seem linked to the Canary Islands.
The “reservoir” animal is unknown
The question about the origin of this virus has also been unanswered for over 60 years: although infections from both rodents and non-human primates have been observed, the “reservoir” animal from which the infection starts is not yet known. An answer could come from the genetic sequences of the virus, the first of which was published and deposited by a Portuguese research group on a platform freely accessible to researchers, just as they have been doing with the SARS-CoV virus since the beginning of 2020. -2. The bioinformatics unit of the infectious diseases department of the National Institute of Health “Doutor Ricardo Jorge” (Insa) in Lisbon obtained the genetic map of the virus.