India reports monkeypox cases…
The case of another communicable monkeypox virus has been alarming in India.
According to the statement given by Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation, Soumya Swaminathan has said, The outbreak of Monkeypox has been a "wake-up call",. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, she explained that since 1979-1980, smallpox vaccination programmes have been stopped, indicating that it might have helped the virus to steal a march on the world.
"This Monkeypox outbreak has been a wake-up call for us, because we need to prepare ourselves for deadly outbreaks all the time," she said.
Monkeypox is caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus. Its clinical presentation resembles that of smallpox, a related orthopoxvirus infection which was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980.
Dr Swaminathan, however, indicated that using the smallpox vaccine for monkeypox may be useful though more laboratory data is required.
The vaccine we have today for smallpox, the second and third generation vaccines, but there are very limited doses. Countries have been stockpiling these vaccines in case there is a smallpox outbreak, biological or accidental," she said.
One company -- Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic -- has developed a vaccine for Monkeypox, but there isn't any efficacy data. "There is an urgent need to collect data," she said.
Despite the lack of data, it is clear that Monkeypox is a different virus and will not mutate at the same speed as Covid, she said.
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