Does the chickenpox vaccination protect against monkey pox? [WE EXPLAIN]

Monkey pox appeared in Europe in early May, and its presence in Poland was officially confirmed on June 10. It raises anxiety, but experts reassure that its course is relatively mild. Nor is the disease so easily transmitted from person to person. As Dr. n. Farm reminds. Leszek Borkowski, a drug and a vaccine are available, but it is not the one that immunizes people against chickenpox.

1. Monkey pox is a zoonosis, i.e. an infectious zoonotic disease
2. Man can become infected with monkey pox through contact with an infected animal or human
3. The transmission of smallpox viruses between people occurs mainly by droplets, through close contact
4. Monkey pox appeared in Europe in early May. Experts are investigating why the virus appeared in a different climate zone than usual, i.e. outside Africa
5. More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.

Smallpox and monkey are step sisters

Dr. n. Farm. Leszek Borkowski compared various types of smallpox, relating them to the terminology of family affinity. He also noted that the pox viruses are DNA viruses of the genus Orthopoxvirus.

– Chicken pox and shingles are sister birth diseases, and black pox and monkey pox are step sisters. The whole family comes from two grandparents who are full brothers – illustrated the expert.

He added that all smallpox had similar stages of development in the patient’s body and similar skin symptoms in different areas of the body, except that chickenpox and shingles are shorter, and smallpox and monkeys last longer by about more than two weeks.

The rest of the text is below the video.

Symptoms of monkey pox

The expert reminded that the symptoms of monkey pox include: headache, pain in the muscles, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills and significant weakness.

– A rash similar to chickenpox usually also develops. It often starts in the face and then spreads to other parts of the body, including the genitals, explained the pharmacist.

Available drugs and vaccines against monkey pox

Dr. Borkowski noted that vaccination against chickenpox does not protect against monkey pox.

– Beware of charlatans and ignoramuses. Vaccination against chickenpox does not protect against monkey pox, he warned.

He explained that the available drug for treating monkey pox, Tecovirimat SIGA, blocks the virus from spreading from an infected cell to another healthy cell. He added that Imvanex vaccine is also available, which protects against smallpox and monkey to a large extent. He explained that the introduction, in justified cases, of monkey pox infection, the so-called ring vaccination with Imvanex, which involves vaccinating only people from the patient’s immediate environment.

Monkey pox. What worries epidemiologists?

The pharmacist also pointed out that epidemiologists now want to know why the monkey pox virus begins to attack people and why it does it in a different climatic zone, i.e. outside Africa, where infections persist.

– We are looking for the causes, including possible genetic changes – he concluded.

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