Professor Anna Abecassis in Social Media | Smallpox: Asymptomatic people can transmit the disease and vaccines are effective in mitigating it

Professor Anna Abecassis in Social Media | Smallpox: Asymptomatic people can transmit the disease and vaccines are effective in mitigating it

In a Interview with Lusa AgencyWhich took place last Friday, August 16, 2024, Prof. Dr. Anna AbecassisThe latest version of smallpox, which is considered a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), can be asymptomatic, explained the researcher, from the Global Public Health Unit of the Institute of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine (IHMT). However, the researcher stresses that this possibility of transmission is still not well understood, considering that vaccination is the most effective way to combat this disease.

Mpox – Alternative 1

According to the professor Anna AbecassisThis smallpox outbreak is caused by the subvariant 1, which originated in Central Africa, unlike the 2022 outbreak in Europe, which was caused by the subvariant 2, which originated in East Africa. As such, the symptoms can be different:

“andThese branches have different characteristics in terms of symptoms (…) Type 2 causes a less frequent and more localized rash, while Type 1 has a more widespread rash all over the body, which means it has more severe symptoms. However, symptoms such as fever, headache and swollen lymph nodes are common in both.

According to the available data, the subtype 1 variant has a higher level of transmissibility between humans, which makes it easier to spread. On Thursday, August 15, 2024, the first case in Europe was announced in Sweden, which means that “High prevention is needed.“The researcher explained,”

Mortality rate and the importance of infrastructure and health professionals

The mortality rate between the strains should not be directly compared. There were several outbreaks in 2022 in Europe, which has a much greater response capacity, while the current outbreak, at least for now, is mainly affecting the African continent, where the severe shortage of infrastructure and healthcare professionals has a more direct negative impact on the health of the population.

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What has been described is that this strain has higher mortality rates, and the information I have found is that it has a mortality rate of 1 to 10%, while category 2 has 2 to 6%, but this also depends on the affected areas.

For these reasons, the best strategy to try to overcome human resource constraints, especially on the African continent, is to prioritize vaccination:

“The best response (…) to combat this outbreak is through prevention because, in terms of the capacity of human health resources to respond to treatment, we know that we have limited resources in these contexts and it ends up being difficult to act.”

Vaccine production, distribution and identification of at-risk groups

At this point, there are some important issues that need to be analyzed: the production and distribution of vaccines and the prioritization of people at high risk so that they can start getting vaccinated. However, the local context and different capacities to operate can make the response difficult.

According to the researcher, the World Health Organization has a series of recommendations, ranging from early diagnosis, isolation of cases, notification of partners, identification of contacts, and vaccination, although the number of vaccines available is still low.

the Global Alliance for Vaccines and ImmunizationIts president, Durão Barroso, has a response plan with a budget of $500 million (about €455 million) dedicated to this type of emergency and on Friday announced the creation of a global reserve of vaccines against smallpox.

“In this case, we will have to ensure that these vaccines are distributed in a coordinated manner and that entities at the local level are able to control the cases that arise and identify contacts, in order to prevent the epidemic from spreading rapidly.”

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Additionally, since the previous outbreak in 2022, there has been a research and preparedness response to smallpox which in theory means a better ability to deal with smallpox. However, although this type of disease is still being better understood, Prof. Anna Abecassis You see it as necessary to identify groups at risk.

“I have not yet seen anything that identifies the groups at risk in this case. We know that there are a lot of infections in children, that there is vertical transmission, and in this case the mortality rate is higher.”

The situation in Portugal

Professor Anna Abecassis He explained that in Portugal there are already about 17,000 people who have been vaccinated, and they were at high risk of an outbreak in 2022. However, he believes it is important to manage resources and understand to what extent large-scale testing can and should be carried out at the borders:

He added: “There must be awareness on the part of health workers of the symptoms of this disease, or the range of symptoms, from the perspective of the possibility of imported cases, so that we can move immediately to isolate them (…) “I don’t know what is planned in terms of controlling the entry of people from these most affected areas, but it is important to carry out some monitoring, which would be an effective strategy (…). All available vaccines should be directed to countries currently facing an outbreak, but at some point it may make sense to vaccinate the Portuguese population as well and there should also be a definition of a vaccination strategy that identifies priority groups, that is, health professionals, who are more likely to come into contact with patients.”

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Interview in various media (in alphabetical order):

  1. Eastern Azores
  2. Morning belt
  3. News Diary
  4. Madeira News Diary
  5. Minho's Diary
  6. Health News
  7. Impala
  8. NetPharma
  9. News by the minute
  10. now
  11. observer
  12. Radio Nahda
  13. Saturday
  14. frog
  15. Health+
  16. TSF
  17. live healthy

By Andrea Hargraves

"Wannabe internet buff. Future teen idol. Hardcore zombie guru. Gamer. Avid creator. Entrepreneur. Bacon ninja."