The virus, first documented in 1958, has infected more than 70 people in the UK in recent weeks and has been reported to spread beyond those who have links to travel to the UK. West Africa. However, the best immunologists have said that we should be concerned about the possible effects, but that we should not panic.
David Katz, professor emeritus of immunology at UCL, suggested that he could follow a similar path to previous seasonal outbreaks of largely non-lethal flu or viruses.
In an interview with Express.co.uk, he compared the monkeypox in nature to bovine smallpox, which he noted was “what people used to get the smallpox vaccine.”
He added: “There are no people who die from it, but there are people who suffer from a rather nasty and infectious disease that is causing blisters and pustules.”
Earlier this week, David Heymann, a WHO epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told Channel 4 that there were two key types of monkeypox that have been found in natural in sub-Saharan Africa: a strain in the Congo Basin and a strain in West Africa: the latter is the one that has spread.
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He said that this strain caused a “much less serious illness” than the other, and as it does not spread easily through breathing, “this will not be like a Covid pandemic.”
As soon as cases were discovered in the UK that had not been related to travel from West Africa, questions began to be raised as to whether smallpox could be the next Covid.
That it had apparently spread to the LGBT community in London raised questions about whether it could be a successor to HIV.
However, Professor Katz said that these represented “the kind of silly equations people make.”
He could have predicted greater stress for doctors, as parents wondered if their child’s chickenpox could actually be chickenpox, but noted that “we haven’t had any mortality yet.”
The “increased sensitivity” that people may have due to coronavirus can create an “overreaction” to the monkey’s smallpox, which he feared could lead to a wolf situation crying over a child if another virus arises. hard.
Professor Katz added: “This is the kind of disease you are looking at, but this is not to be underestimated. Not to say that it is not important; it is not dangerous.
“There will be children and adults who have secondary blister infections. A secondary infection can cause sepsis or something like that. And if you’re immunocompromised in some way, […] then you obviously have a higher risk of that. “
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He said it had yet to be understood whether the monkey’s smallpox was spreading as a sexually transmitted disease, such as gonorrhea or syphilis, or whether it was because it was transmitted through close physical contact.
Cases have sprung up across Europe, Israel, Argentina and the United States, among others. France said on Tuesday that its health authority was recommending targeted vaccinations.
When asked if what was spreading around the world could be a new strain of the virus, after seeing so many new variants of Covid emerge during the pandemic, Professor Katz was open to the idea, stating that it was “perfectly possible” but “difficult to know.” at this point.
The similarity of monkeypox with bovine smallpox can also be a determining factor in how it spreads and what its effects are on the population.
Professor Heymann said: “People who are at higher risk are people who have never been vaccinated against smallpox, because smallpox vaccination protects against smallpox. But people under the age of 40 because it stopped when smallpox was eradicated “.
Professor Katz suggested that a vaccine could be developed for monkeypox, but that it could be more harmful than the virus itself. He added: “Don’t forget, a lot of smallpox stuff goes back to prior knowledge of what viruses really were.”
The lead immunologist also asked if the relatively “clean” environment we had been in for the past few years due to the pandemic could mean that “our immune system is not as prepared as it would have been” if we were contracting more diseases.
He warned: “There is an opportunity for this kind of thing to spread.”