- Jose Carlos Cueto
- BBC News World
5 hours before
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The occurrence of multiple monkeypox outbreaks in the United States, Canada, Australia and several European countries has reminded mankind of the terrible disease that claimed lives for centuries.
Smallpox is one of the deadliest diseases ever known, and studies on Egyptian mummies suggest it has been circulating among us for at least 3,000 years.
An estimated 300 million people died from smallpox in the 20th century alone.
Fortunately, smallpox became the first disease in history to be eradicated more than 40 years ago when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared its end in 1980 after a successful global vaccination campaign.
Now monkeypox is causing the largest outbreak of the disease ever seen in Europe. Scientists are investigating what is happening.
For now, medical authorities say the chances of uncontrolled transmission are low and note its lethality is far from that caused by human smallpox.
Experts point out that monkeypox is much milder and less contagious than the human version of the disease.
Next, understand the differences between the two viruses that belong to the same orthopoxvirus family:
mortality
How deadly is monkeypox?
This is the main question many ask when hearing about an unfamiliar disease. Especially when she shares the name with one of the deadliest in history.
“Fortunately, monkeypox is much milder than the human version of smallpox,” Raúl Rivas González, professor of microbiology at the University of Salamanca in Spain, told BBC News Mundo (the BBC’s Spanishlanguage news service).
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Smallpox came in two versions: Smallpox Major and Smallpox Minor. The biggest was the deadliest with a fatality rate of 30% of cases of infection. The smaller one caused milder illness and rarely resulted in death.
Something similar is happening with monkeypox, albeit with lower mortality rates. There are two versions: West African and Central African.
“West Africa is the mildest, with mortality rates between 1% and 10%, and it appears to be the one that caused the outbreak in Europe,” says Rivas. “Central Africa, on the other hand, is more virulent and dangerous and can kill around 20% of those infected,” he adds.
Jacob Lorenzo Morales, director of the University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands, Spain, explains that the highest mortality rate is concentrated in certain populations.
“Based on the data we’ve seen, most deaths are occurring in very poor rural areas of Africa and in general among many children due to their less developed immune systems,” he told BBC News Mundo.
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Smallpox was eradicated worldwide 40 years ago
stream
Unlike the coronavirus, or even smallpox, where the pathogen is highly transmissible, monkeypox is less contagious.
“It’s a virus that transmits very well between animals, but when it passes from animal to human it doesn’t have a high transmission capacity,” says Lorenzo Morales.
Medical officials note that current outbreaks still don’t have much information about possible humantohuman transmission routes.
According to current knowledge, the virus is mainly transmitted through close contact and the exchange of bodily fluids. Many of the cases in Europe appear to be related to sexual transmission.
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A historic vaccination campaign, particularly in areas with fewer resources, succeeded in eradicating smallpox in 1980.
But all possible routes are being studied, such as indirect transmission through contaminated objects and even aerosols.
“Smallpox that had been eradicated was transmitted in a similar way, but it was much easier to spread between people,” recalls Lorenzo Morales, who does not rule out the possibility that smallpox could be transmitted more efficiently in the future.
Raúl Rivas explains that this monkeypox is a very stable virus that varies very little. But Morales says that “this is a relatively new pathogen that is getting used to living among us and is not yet specialized to multiply and infect us.”
Human smallpox could only be transmitted between humans. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no scientific evidence that smallpox can be transmitted by insects or other animals.
The origin of smallpox is unknown. In the case of monkeypox, it was so named because it was discovered in 1958 in colonies of monkeys kept for research purposes.
The clinical picture begins in a similar way in both diseases, although it is somewhat milder in monkeypox.
“As with most infections, they start with a fever, and it’s also common to have body aches, fatigue, muscle aches, and a sore throat,” Rivas said.
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Microscopic view of the virus that causes smallpox
In addition, both diseases also develop the unmistakable skin pustules (pimples on the skin), which can leave visible scars on the patient’s skin.
“As the days go by, monkeypox tends to swell the lymph nodes, both in the neck, upper and armpits, and in the groin. This hasn’t happened with human smallpox,” says Rivas.
The incubation period for monkeypox is usually 7 to 14 days but can range from 5 to 21 days.
In smallpox, the incubation can last anywhere from 7 to 19 days, although the average duration has ranged from 10 to 14 days.
treatment
Smallpox was eradicated thanks to a historic vaccination campaign that ended thousands of years of deaths from the pathogen.
Since the monkeypox virus is related to human smallpox, smallpox vaccine has also been shown to be effective in both diseases.
In this case, people over 55 who were vaccinated against smallpox before they were eradicated may have significant immunity to monkeypox.
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The studies of the Englishman Edward Jenner in the 18th century were fundamental to the development of the smallpox vaccine.
Available treatments are primarily palliative for symptoms. Lorenzo Morales says there is no specific treatment for the disease.
“Because it’s a pathogen that has mainly affected Africa and nondeveloped countries, not enough is being invested in finding treatments,” he says.
However, there is one very big difference between monkeypox and the eradicated one: the advance of science and knowledge in recent years.
Smallpox claimed life for hundreds of years without human understanding of what was happening.
“This monkeypox is a disease we know well. It may be something new to the general public, but it was discovered in 1958. It’s also well studied because it’s very similar to human smallpox,” says Rivas.
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