The Italian government has strengthened its surveillance network against mpox, a disease formerly known as “monkeypox” and declared international emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), but highlighted this Friday (16) that the situation is “under control”.
According to Mara Campitiello, head of the prevention department at the Ministry of Health, the ministry has activated “operational channels” with the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) and the Instituto Superior da Saúde (ISS) to “plan risk containment strategies in the case of change in the current scenario”.
“We are reinforcing the diagnostic surveillance network throughout the national territory”, said Campitiello, who highlighted that the epidemiological situation in Italy is “under control, because there are no confirmed cases of the new strain [Clade I]”, which is more aggressive and has caused a new outbreak of mpox in Africa. The leader also guaranteed that the national vaccine stock is “sufficient”.
The disease can be transmitted through drops of saliva and contact with body fluids and skin lesions, including during sexual intercourse. The symptoms are similar to those of human smallpox – which has been eradicated worldwide since 1980 –, such as fever, muscle pain and the appearance of blisters on the skin.
The name “monkeypox” was due to the fact that the virus was discovered in monkey colonies in 1958, but the WHO began to adopt the term “mpox” from 2022 to avoid stigmatization.
Currently, rodents are believed to be the main hosts of the pathogen. (HANDLE)
