Epidemiologist Fernando Simon, director of the Coordination Center for Health Alerts and Emergencies, confirmed this Saturday in Zaragoza that “the transmission of monkeypox in humans was higher than expected” by confirming 30 positive cases in Spain.
While waiting for more suspicious test results, Simon wanted to convey a message of calm to the citizens because “Caution must always be present, but at the present time we must not give a feeling of excessive distress”, because “a disease with certain characteristics and against which the smallpox vaccine protects those born before 1977 somewhat.”
“It’s not generally one of the most serious or common,” he said. “Now there is not enough information to evaluate everything and we have to be careful about giving a risk situation that may completely change in a few days. This does not mean that we professionals do not have to be very attentive and it means important work on the health front.”
The Aragonese doctor noted that “the coronavirus pandemic is not over yet, although the data is better and the situation is different than it was a year or two ago. I don’t want to send the wrong message.” “We can’t think of lowering our guard completely, although we can be calmer and see things aren’t as serious as they used to be,” he added.
The epidemiologist commented, “We have not changed covid-19 for monkeypox” because “it is not a set of trading cards,” but it should be borne in mind that “throughout the epidemic work has been done on other risks” like this, which “so far have been limited to over certain areas in West Africa.
“The message that it is an African problem cannot be conveyed, it only belongs to three specific areas. And we cannot exaggerate it too much, although in Europe only imported cases and some small local transfer cases have been recognized in some countries such as the UK ”, may have influenced the expert, who transmitted information that “is being studied if there is one transmission point or several chains”.
Monkeypox, which is transmitted by very long and close respiratory contact, “only a second generation of cases has so far been known.” As he explained, there have been outbreaks in recent years with the third and fourth transmission lines, so “we’ll see what happens knowing that every year the number of less protected people increases.” Fernando Simon admitted that “the mechanics of transmission are the same and in many cases do not depend on personal circumstances.”
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