Monkey pox, the first symptoms: fever and headache. Questions and answers

The emergence of isolated cases of monkeypox is of concern. The first in Italy was identified at Spallanzani in Rome. “This is a young adult returning from a stay in the Canary Islands who had presented himself to the emergency room – announces the institute -. Two other suspected cases are being investigated”. The Ministry and the Higher Institute of Health have activated the network of sentinel doctors. The regional administrations have been alerted in order to track the geography of the infections in sequence. The experience of Covid-19 teaches: never underestimate or minimize, but do not panic. What virus is it? It is a Poxvirus, from the same family as smallpox, but it differs from this because it is much less contagious, with a generally benign trend. We are talking about a tropical disease typical of West Africa, with a predilection for the Congo Basin. There is no evidence of a link as a result of exotic travels in the people affected in these days: probably the virus, thanks to climate changes, is adapting to our latitudes. Should we fear an epidemic? “In the last thirty years, since we have knowledge of spread from animals to humans – explains Massimo Andreoni, scientific director of Simit, Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases – we have only recorded sporadic cases. The situation must be kept under control, without feeding irrational fears “. How is it transmitted? Infectious scientists believe that the virus reservoir (first isolated in the Java macaque, a monkey related to the baboon) is localized in small rodents. The causative agent is now passed from one person to another through saliva and body fluids. It seems to tend to spread by close human contact, through sexual relations, without excluding the gay bisexual community. What does it cause? Recurring symptoms are fever, body aches, headache, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue. A typical feature of this monkeypox are …