Who is immune to monkeypox (Monkeypox)?

Is the chickenpox vaccination effective in preventing it?

Who should be vaccinated against this disease?

And why did experts call for the missteps that occurred at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic with monkeypox not to be repeated?

Who are immunized against monkeypox?

Older adults who received smallpox vaccinations may have acquired some immunity to monkeypox, researchers say, and generally healthy children and adults are less likely to develop severe cases of the disease.

In a report published by the American newspaper "The New York Times", writer Apurva Mandavili said that for a world tired of fighting the Corona virus, the outbreak of monkeypox poses a major question about the people who are most at risk of infection.

Stop the smallpox vaccination

In the United States of America, vaccination with the smallpox vaccine was stopped in 1972, because it had been completely eliminated in the United States, and the last case appeared in the world in 1977, and routine vaccination was stopped all over the world in 1980, and because the effects Vaccine protection wears off after 10 years, so most people are now susceptible to developing smallpox, according to the MSD Guides website.

For her part, the author cautioned that infants younger than 6 months of age may be at risk from this disease, and studies indicate that many elderly people from the group most vulnerable to infection with monkeypox virus are protected to some extent thanks to the smallpox vaccines they received decades ago. This means that they can become infected but are likely to have only mild symptoms.

According to Dr. Luigi Ferrucci, Scientific Director of the National Institute on Aging in the United States, "Even those who were vaccinated decades ago still maintain a very high level of antibodies and the ability to neutralize this virus, and even if they were vaccinated 50 years ago this protection should remain." present".

The permanence of the smallpox vaccine

In the United States, the military continued a smallpox vaccination program until 1991 as a precaution against a bioterrorist attack, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Biden administration's senior adviser on infectious diseases, explained that questions about the permanence of the smallpox vaccine rose after the 2001 anthrax attack.

Fauci said it is reasonable to assume that most people who have been vaccinated are still protected, "but the durability of protection varies from person to person," stressing that "we cannot guarantee that a person vaccinated against smallpox will still be protected from monkeypox."

"Before Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine, the number one cause of blindness in the world was smallpox," said Mark Slivka, an immunologist at Oregon Health and Science University. "People infected with this virus can still spread the infection until the blisters crust over and fade."

Dr. Slivka and other experts emphasized that monkeypox can be severe and even fatal, but this outbreak is unlikely to turn into a pandemic.

“We are fortunate that we have vaccines and treatments that can relieve the symptoms of this virus, and as a result we have the ability to stop its spread,” said Anne Remoen, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has studied monkeypox in Africa.

Is the chickenpox 'varicella' vaccination effective in preventing monkeypox?

No, the chickenpox virus is not related to the smallpox virus, and the two are different. The chickenpox vaccine does not provide any protection against smallpox or monkeypox.

Are monkeypox vaccines available?

In her article published in the French newspaper Le Point, writer Heloise Rambert said that there is no specific vaccine against monkeypox, but there is a vaccine against the smallpox virus, and this vaccine provides protection against the monkeypox virus, which is a strain of smallpox.

Several observational studies have shown that previous smallpox vaccinations were approximately 85% effective in preventing monkeypox and relieving symptoms of the disease.

Who should be vaccinated against monkeypox?

The High Authority of Health in France recommends that people who have been in contact with a confirmed case be vaccinated in the so-called "ring vaccination".

Professor Jean-Daniel Leliever, an immunologist and head of clinical research at the Vaccine Research Institute, explains that “the principle is to vaccinate people who have announced the disease and those who are in contact with them, and the vaccination of the first and second circles will allow breaking the cycle of infection, and this vaccine strategy was applied against Covid-19, but in the face of such This pandemic has proven to be complex."

When the number of infections is limited, the ring vaccination strategy is likely to be effective, provided that the doses are injected not too far apart.

The authority recommends vaccination after contact with a sick person within 4 days, and two doses after 14 days at most (or 3 doses for people with immunodeficiency) every 28 days.

A call not to repeat the missteps that occurred at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic with monkeypox

Some leading experts in the field of infectious diseases are calling on global health authorities to take faster action to contain the growing outbreak of monkeypox.

Experts say that governments and the World Health Organization should not repeat the missteps that occurred at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the delay in detecting cases, which helped the spread of the virus.

While monkeypox is not transmissible or dangerous to the same degree as "Covid-19", these scientists say that clearer guidance on how to isolate an infected person, clearer advice on how to protect those at risk of infection, and improved methods of testing and tracing contacts, are needed.

If monkeypox became an epidemic

In turn, Isabelle Eckerl, a professor at the Geneva Center for Emerging Viral Diseases in Switzerland, said, "If this becomes an epidemic (in more countries), we will face another bad disease, and a lot of difficult decisions will have to be made."

An official told Reuters that the World Health Organization is studying whether the outbreak should be assessed as a potential public health emergency of international concern, and a decision by the World Health Organization to consider the disease a global health emergency - as happened with the Corona virus or Ebola - would help in accelerating research and funding to contain it.

However, experts say it is unlikely that the organization will reach such a decision soon, because monkeypox is a known threat that the world has tools to combat.

Monkeypox virus is containable

Last Friday, the organization confirmed that the monkeypox virus is contained with measures that include rapid case detection, isolation and tracing of contacts.

Advice directed to the injured and in some cases to those in contact with them includes isolation for a period of 21 days, but it is not clear to what extent people will adhere to this long period away from work or other obligations.

Mass vaccination is not necessary, but some countries - including Britain and France - provide vaccines for health care workers and close contacts.