The first suspected Austrian case of smallpox was reported in Vienna on Sunday. The disease was diagnosed in a 35-year-old man, who has typical symptoms.
After more and more cases in neighboring countries, monkeypox also reached Austria. A first suspected case was reported in Vienna on Sunday, which has now been confirmed: a 35-year-old man was taken to a clinic in Vienna-Favoriten on Sunday night with typical symptoms such as a mild fever and pustules on his face. A Ministry of Health spokesperson confirmed a corresponding report from the ORF. The positive message that the man was indeed infected came early Sunday night.
Although final confirmation is apparently still pending: “The laboratory result of the patient who came to us as a suspected case confirmed that he is positive for smallpox. Sequencing of the smallpox form is still taking place,” said a spokeswoman for the Vienna (Wigev), Nina Brenner-Kung. “In all likelihood it will be monkeypox.”
The Austrian patient’s suspicion had already arisen in the ambulance, so he was taken to the hospital’s infectology department. “He’s been fine so far, he’s been stable. He has skin changes, he has mild flu-like symptoms,” Brenner-Küng said of the man’s health. According to spokesperson for Councilor for Health Peter Hacker (SPÖ), the patient is in the isolation ward. The sample was analyzed by the University of Veterinary Medicine.
The Ministry of Health was informed of the suspected case by the responsible Viennese authorities, who are also responsible for contact tracing. On Friday, health officials announced that they would be ready to start contact tracing earlier this week, after the World Health Organization (WHO) called for all contacts of infected people to be traced.
WHO: No cause for concern
Previously, cases were known in neighboring countries of Germany and Switzerland, as had already happened in Great Britain, USA, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Canada. Monkeypox occurs primarily in Africa, making current outbreaks uncommon. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other experts, the number of evidence will be available soon. According to WHO data, more than 90 infections had been confirmed as of Saturday in countries where the virus, native to West and Central Africa, does not normally occur.
To stop the spread, it is “urgently necessary” to raise awareness of the viral disease, the WHO said in Geneva on Saturday night. In addition, cases would have to be comprehensively identified and isolated, and routes of infection would have to be traced. Experts see no cause for concern for the general public.
Three cases of the viral disease have already been confirmed in Germany, one in Munich and two in Berlin. As of Saturday, the WHO reports about 90 confirmed infections and 30 suspected cases in countries where the virus, native to West and Central Africa, does not normally occur.
Virologist: No new pandemic
“We don’t need to fear a new pandemic,” virologist Gerd Sutter of Ludwig-Maxiliams University in Munich said in an interview published Saturday by Zeit Online. Smallpox viruses are different pathogens than those that trigger smallpox.
The disease is one of the zoonoses, that is, diseases that spread repeatedly from animals to humans and are almost never transmitted between humans. “As we have almost no immunity to the classic smallpox viruses, eradicated in nature over 40 years ago, monkeypox also spreads from time to time, but only selectively. They don’t do it as efficiently as the flu or Sars-CoV -2,” said the smallpox virologist.
According to the WHO, the diseases currently identified affect mainly – but not exclusively – men who have sex with people of the same sex. In all the cases being genetically analyzed, the pathogen is the West African variant, including the patient in Munich. Compared to the Central African variant, it generally leads to lighter courses.
“West African monkeypox is generally assumed to have an overall mortality rate of 1%, which mainly affects children under the age of 16,” said Clemens Wendtner, chief physician of the infectious disease clinic at a hospital in Schwabing. , in Munich. “But you have to keep in mind that these data from Africa are not necessarily transferable to the healthcare system in Europe or the US. Mortality would be lower here. This is a disease that I don’t think has the potential to massively affect the population.” in danger.”
fever, headache, rash
According to health officials, the virus usually causes only mild symptoms, such as fever, headache, muscle aches and rashes. However, monkeypox can also have serious courses, in individual cases fatal diseases are possible. The pathogen virus is mainly transmitted by direct contact or contact with contaminated materials.
Wendtner believes that caution is warranted in immunocompromised patient groups, ie those with weak immune systems. “This includes, for example, HIV patients without adequate drug disease control, but also, for example, tumor patients with severe immunosuppression, for example after stem cell therapy.” It is being discussed whether these risk groups can be protected with a vaccination. The Imvanex vaccine has been approved in the EU since 2013. Vaccination of contact persons is also being examined. The WHO wanted to convene experts to discuss possible vaccination recommendations.
UNAIDS criticizes homophobic allegations
UNAIDS, for its part, has criticized some reports and comments about monkeypox cases as homophobic and racist. A stigmatization of the viral infection could “rapidly undermine the fight against the epidemic”. While a large proportion of confirmed monkeypox cases to date affect gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men, the disease can be transmitted through close contact with an infected person and “affects anyone”.
The UN agency fears the stigma and allegations could quickly affect science and evidence-based efforts to combat the disease. Racist or homophobic attacks “create a cycle of fear”. This causes people to avoid health centres, which makes it more difficult to limit the spread, warned UNAIDS.
drug on the market
In addition to vaccination, the drug Tecovirimat is a treatment option for monkeypox that has been approved in the EU. However, the WHO pointed out that antidotes are currently not available in all sectors. Travel restrictions or event cancellations in affected countries are currently not necessary from a WHO perspective. Contagion can occur in mass events, but precautionary measures against Covid-19 would also work against monkeypox.
Uniform international guidelines are needed to decide whether monkeypox should be one of the notifiable diseases in the future and whether infected people should also be quarantined.