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After years of COVID-19 headlines, the monkey’s smallpox is now in the news.
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On June 3, Canada confirmed 77 cases of the disease that have appeared around the world, with one case found in Alberta last week. According to the medical director of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the person diagnosed with smallpox of the monkey had close contact with a known case outside the province.
David Evans, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Alberta, and Timothy Caulfield, Professor of the Faculty of Law and School of Public Health at the University of Alicante, spoke to Postmedia about what Albertans need to know. now.
What causes the monkey’s smallpox?
Like COVID-19, monkeypox is caused by a virus, but of a different kind: COVID is caused by a coronavirus made of RNA, while monkeypox comes from what is known as poxvirus. , made of DNA.
Smallpox virus is specifically caused by an orthopoxvirus, a subfamily within this group that also includes smallpox virus.
What do we know about the virus?
Smallpox was first identified in a laboratory almost 70 years ago and, unlike the virus that causes COVID, is not new.
It is endemic to several countries in West and Central Africa, and its health authorities have experience in monitoring and treating it. But like what is called a neglected tropical disease, monkeypox has received little worldwide attention until recent cases in non-endemic countries in Europe, as well as in the United States and Canada.
Evans, who studies orthopoxviruses specifically, explained that the monkeypox virus is sometimes used as a substitute for smallpox research.
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“If we want to test a vaccine that we think will work against smallpox, check to see if it will protect against smallpox, for example.”
While there are still questions about the current spread of the disease, Evans said he sees “nothing unusual” about this strain of the monkeypox virus.
“It’s not mutating into a new, more lethal variety.”
How to catch the smallpox of the monkey?
Hinshaw pointed out last week that the monkey’s smallpox “doesn’t spread easily among people.” Direct and close contact with an infected person with symptoms is the main way to spread the disease. There is also a risk of contact with contaminated items, such as a sick person’s sheets or cutlery that they used to eat.
There is also a possibility that the monkey’s smallpox will spread in respiratory drops during “prolonged” contact between people.
A disproportionate number of cases have been identified in current outbreaks in men who have sex with men. But Caulfield stressed that anyone can suffer from monkeypox, and the spread is not limited to sexual activity. “The disease is transmitted mainly through close contact, so if you are in a particular community where you can have closer contact, you will go. See an increase in those communities,” he said.
“In the early days when this started, I was on social media talking about it … and I got people to say, ‘No, that’s not true. This is a disease of the gay community. “This really shows how important it is to make sure the information is accurate, that the narratives are not alarming or stigmatizing.”
What happens if you catch a smallpox?
Symptoms can start like the flu, with fever, pain and swollen lymph nodes. After a few days, a rash appears that can spread, although in some recent cases, doctors have seen a more subtle rash with only a few sores in one area of the body.
In Alberta, if you think you have been in close contact with someone with smallpox or if you have symptoms of the disease, you should isolate yourself and call 811 or tell your doctor. The infection usually resolves after a few weeks, but the rash can be very painful and cause scarring.
While people should check if they think they have cause for concern, the risk in this province is low.
“That doesn’t mean that, overall and from a global health perspective, this is not a serious issue and something that deserves intense scrutiny,” Caulfield said.
“But at this level of individual risk right now, I don’t think the average albino has to worry too much.”
With a confirmed case in Alberta, and now?
Canada’s Deputy Director of Public Health, Howard Njoo, has said that the entire Canadian population is likely to be susceptible to monkeypox because routine smallpox vaccination was stopped in 1972.
But this does not mean that we are facing a new smallpox pandemic. It is much less infectious than COVID, especially when compared to the Omicron variant.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the country has a small reserve of three types of smallpox vaccines that can also work against monkeypox, including a newer vaccine that has far fewer side effects than vaccines that people would have had before the routine. immunization stopped.
In Quebec, where there are currently more than 70 confirmed cases of smallpox, the province is giving access to the vaccine to high-risk contacts of a confirmed or probable case of smallpox. The PHAC has said they are watching the situation closely, but a mass vaccination campaign is not needed at this time.
Evans said the past history of monkeypox outbreaks has historically been small and limited, and there is more work to be done to find out what is happening this time around.
“I think it’s more the epidemiology of how it entered a particular population and then spread. That’s the difference in this particular case.”
– With archives of The Canadian Press
masmith@postmedia.com
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