Although monkeypox is not a new disease, there are many misinformation fields that link this virus and relate it to the consequences left by the coronavirus. Given the rumors, the Venezuelan scientist, Flor Helene Pujol, virologist and Doctor of Science, head of the Molecular Virology Laboratory of the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC), assured that the risk of infection of this disease is not comparable to that produced by covid -19.
Pujol explained the most relevant data of this international outbreak on the occasion of a online conversation organized by the Venezuelan Observatory of fakenewsproject of the Civil Association Medianalisis, held on Friday, July 15.
Fear of contagion from monkeypox, which began to be identified internationally in May of this year and first detected time on June 12 in Venezuela, set off alarms among the population. However, Pujol clarified that “the risk of infection with monkeypox is not compared to the risk of transmission of covid-19.”
He explained that in two months 10,000 cases have been recorded worldwide, a figure that does not compare with the reported reports of the first cases of covid-19 in December 2019 in China, and then in January 2020, when it became an issue. international.
Venezuela equipped against monkeypox
In the discussion led by the OVFN journalist and analyst, Ysabel Viloria, the biologist Flor Helene Pujol clarified that the country is equipped to carry out molecular diagnosis.
The blisters or pustular lesions on the skin are undoubtedly the most relevant indicator that allows the identification of monkeypox, however, the specialist in molecular biology commented that they should not be confused with the lesions caused by chickenpox.
He recommended going to a specialist and making the corresponding notification to the National Institute of Hygiene, so that this body can carry out a diagnostic test of the case.
Low fatality rate
Smallpox was a very serious disease, with a mortality rate of 30%, which was successfully eradicated in 1980 thanks to the vaccination campaign that was implemented at that time. In this sense, the virologist scientist revealed that monkeypox is much less serious than human smallpox was at the time.
He also explained that there are two different groups of the virus (monkeypox), one circulates in Central Africa with a lethality rate of 10% and the other group moves in the Central-Western epicenter (Nigeria); this is the one that came out of Africa, and its fatality rate varies between 3 and 6%, although he assured that with this new outbreak it has barely reached 1%.
“Most of the cases of death have been in Africa, sadly, probably due to less health care and also because they have been cases of children, the elderly or pregnant women, which is where the disease can be more serious,” Pujol stressed.
How is monkeypox spread?
The specialist scientist reported that the transmission of this virus occurs through direct contact, such as a hug, a kiss and intimate contacts. She stressed that it is not a sexually transmitted disease like HIV and syphilis, but warned that if you have contact with these lesions during sexual intercourse they are highly contagious.
Regarding the evolution of the incubation period, the head of the IVIC Molecular Virology Laboratory reported that it runs from 5 to 21 days. Given this, she stated that it is a disease of slow evolution, which generates a potential advantage, because the same vaccine against smallpox protects monkeypox.
Pujol warned that the vaccine can be applied among related and contact persons to protect them from infection while it is incubating it, “as the virus goes slowly, it gives us a chance to induce immunity before the disease develops.”
False alarms turned on
The World Health Organization warned about the infodemic, which consists of spreading false news about the pandemic, for which the OVFN has detected more than 2,500 units during 3 years of work, and the most consulted topic has been precisely about the coronavirus, so the global outbreak of monkeypox has not escaped hoaxes and other falsified content.
The detections range from content that claimed that monkeypox was the product of vaccination against covid-19 to others that asserted that people infected with this virus are more likely to get monkeypox and develop a deeper disease. Both were denied and verified by the Observatory team.
“The only relationship that covid-19 and monkeypox have are the lessons learned, such as prevention, there is no proven relationship between the two viruses,” Pujol emphasized.
With information from a press release.
