rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt, ambika.jagassarsingh@guardian.co.tt
Still trying to close wounds inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic, news of a monkeypox outbreak outside of Africa is now digging at the scabs—leaving many worried about recent history repeating itself.
However, according to Veterinary Virologist at the University of West Indies, Dr Christopher Oura, it’s unlikely the virus will reach T&T or have the same effect as SARS-CoV-2.
Within the past week, at least 80 cases were detected in Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States among others. It prompted an emergency meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday afternoon while the Ministry of Health convened a similar meeting just hours before.
According to Oura, there are five major hurdles the monkeypox virus has to overcome in order to inflict the damage COVID-19 has. The first two of these are its comparatively lower transmissibility than COVID-19 and the few cases around the world.
“What you need to take into consideration when you’re looking at these kinds of situations is how easily they’re (the viruses) transmitted from person to person,” he said.
“We know that monkeypox is not particularly easily transmitted from person to person so we know that it won’t spread very quickly and if we put measures in these countries to diagnose it quickly and then contact trace, we should be able to snuff it out,” he said.
He said the low number of cases translates to easier control and a decreased probability of it reaching into T&T.
With person-to-person transmission primarily driven by droplets and close contact, Oura said the third hurdle it will need to overcome is that the current public health measures for the pandemic will also protect against its transmission.
“It’s the same kind of thing that we’re doing at the moment—washing hands reduces the chances of it being transmitted from surfaces and wearing masks like we are at the moment stops those large droplets,” he said.
The fourth hurdle is that smallpox vaccines can offer protection against the disease.
“These pox viruses, they often cross-react with others and luckily the smallpox vaccine that we know and use gives pretty good protection against monkeypox. I think they’re quoting about 85 per cent protection,” he said.
However, according to the Ministry of Health’s website, the smallpox vaccine is not one it offers.
Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles, Oura said, is that monkeypox is not a new virus.
A release from the Health Ministry advised the public to visit their nearest healthcare provider “if you or anyone close to you, have had a recent travel history from any country where cases have been detected and are symptomatic.” It noted there are currently no suspected cases of the disease in T&T.
The number of monkeypox cases outside of Africa is increasing, with at least 80 confirmed cases up to yesterday.
The first case was recorded on May 13 when the WHO was notified of two laboratory-confirmed cases and one probable case, from the same household in the United Kingdom. On May 15, four additional laboratory-confirmed cases were reported among Sexual Health Services attendees presenting with rash illness in men who engaged in sexual relations with other men.
There were nine confirmed cases in England, seven of which have no recent travel history to the African continent, where the disease is endemic. Seven European countries including Sweden, France, Belgium, Germany and Italy have become the latest to announce their first cases of the viral infection.
As of yesterday, Spain confirmed 30 cases and Portugal 23. Spain’s capital, Madrid, is now home to the largest outbreak, with 30 cases confirmed by PCR and a further 15 under investigation.
There were reports of two suspected cases in the United States. This was verified on Wednesday stating that a man in the eastern state of Massachusetts had tested positive for the virus after visiting Canada.
Canada presently has 17 cases, while Australia reported its first case yesterday; an individual with a recent travel history to Britain.
