Portugal has 23 confirmed cases of human infection with monkeypox (also called monkeypox, VMPX). The information has just been confirmed by the Directorate General of Health (DGS). This Friday, a preliminary version of an article on the sequencing of the genome of the virus monkeypox, carried out by researchers from the Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge (Insa), had been published with the information that Portugal already has more than 20 confirmed cases. Portugal is the second European country with the most recorded cases, followed by Spain with 30.
According to the DGS, the new cases were confirmed at the end of Thursday. Regarding the state of health of the 23 people infected with VMPX, the DGS indicates that “they remain in clinical follow-up, and are stable and on an outpatient basis”. With more than two dozen confirmed cases, the director of the DGS, Graça Freitas, indicated this Friday, in an interview granted to RTP1, that “anyone who is sick or has been in contact with a sick person must physically isolate themselves from others and not share clothes and objects.
“It is not often that these foci are multifocal, that is to say that several foci appear in many countries at the same time”, explained Graça Freitas, who will then be sent to INSA for analysis.
Regarding vaccination, although there is no data on existing reserves, the Director General of Health said that there is “a smallpox vaccine reserve” in Portugal, adding however that they are studying the possibility of buying third-generation vaccines: “Right now, in partnership with Infarmed, the European Medicines Agency and the WHO, we are examining whether or not it is appropriate for people to receive the vaccine”. Graça Freitas also informed that “vaccination experts” are studying the risks and benefits of using the smallpox vaccine, indicating that “if the benefits outweigh the risks, it will be recommended”.
The third generation vaccine, approved in 2013 by the European Medicines Agency, is MVA-BN/Imvanex. It is the only third-generation smallpox vaccine approved for the prevention of smallpox and VMPX. The vaccine is not widely available, but the company responsible for its manufacture, Bavarian Nordic, has previously reported that supply from an undisclosed European country has been secured.
Regarding the epidemiological investigations, the press release sent this Friday specifies that “they are in progress”, giving no other information on the establishment of a link between the confirmed cases. Results on other samples of suspected cases are still awaited. there are, for the moment, no recommendations for isolation for confirmed or suspected cases, nor answers on the number of smallpox vaccines existing in the Portuguese reserve.
O documentsigned by Insa investigators on Friday, was published in a discussion forum for the analysis and interpretation of the epidemiology and molecular evolution of the virus. They describe the genomic composition of the monkeypox virusalso confirming that the first rapid phylogenetic analysis indicates that this virus belongs to the West African subgroup, being, therefore, less aggressive and less transmissible, information also confirmed by the DGS.
This Friday, with the cases announced, there are already 80 more cases across Europe. There are currently confirmed cases outside the African continent in Spain (30), UK (20), Italy (3), Belgium (2), Germany (1), Australia (1), in the United States (1), France (1) and Sweden (1).
Monkeypox (also known as monkeypox, VMPX) is a virus that is generally poorly transmissible to humans and exhibits mild symptoms, found mainly in rodents and non-human primates in the forests of central and western Africa. The emergence of cases in several countries where there had never been records of VMPX raises concerns about the origin of the epidemic and the epidemiology of the disease, which the DGS and the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central are jointly investigating to understand the sources of contagion.
The entity headed by Graça Freitas warns that all “people who present with ulcerative lesions, rashes, palpable lymph nodes, possibly accompanied by fever, chills, headache, muscle pain and fatigue” should consult doctor.