Monkeypox spread across Belgium

Belgium currently has two confirmed cases of the monkey pox virus. A third possible contamination is being investigated. This was confirmed by virologist Marc Van Ranst on Friday via Twitter.

The laboratory in Leuven, with which virologist Marc Van Ranst is associated, has identified a second case of the monkey pox virus in just as many days. It concerns a man from Flemish Brabant. On Thursday, there was also a confirmed case in Antwerp. That patient lives with someone who is also showing symptoms, although the outcome for that person has yet to be determined.

"The source and contact investigation is ongoing," Patrick Smits, doctor in infectious disease control at the Agency for Care and Health, told De Standaard. "According to the initial data, you are contagious from the first symptoms, and so from then on we are looking for contacts. Although it could be that for tracing contacts a safety margin of 72 hours is necessary. This is still under discussion."

People who become infected with the monkey pox virus are asked to go into quarantine. Exactly how long the house arrest should last is not yet clear.

"In the UK and Spain they are asking for 21 days of isolation," Smits says. "I hope that this afternoon the term will also be definitively established in our country."

Smits hopes for a uniform policy from the global, European and Belgian health authorities.

In early May, the virus first appeared in Europe in a man who had recently travelled from Nigeria to the UK. Since then, at least eight other cases have been identified in the UK. The virus is also emerging in Portugal, where there are 14 infections and 6 suspected cases so far, and Spain, where there are 7 infections and about 40 suspected cases. The first official outbreaks have also been reported in Italy and France.

In addition, monkey pox has also appeared in the United States and Canada. Even in Australia, a first case is currently under investigation. Under normal circumstances, however, the disease only occurs in Central and West Africa.

Two types

There are two types of monkey pox: one from Congo and one from West Africa. The variant now circulating in several western countries is the West African one. In Central and West Africa, people often become infected through bites from rodents and other small animals. People can also pass the virus to each other, through body fluids and through contact with the sores of a person with monkey pox.

The World Health Organisation is monitoring the spread of the virus in Europe and North America and notes that the new monkey pox infections can be spread through sexual contact.

(AHU)

© BELGA PHOTO Benoit Doppagne - Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst pictured during a visit to Afrigen Formulation Facilities, on the first day of a mission to South Africa of the Belgian cooperation and development minister, in Cape Town, South-Africa, Friday 11 February 2022.