Status: 05/23/2022 2:56 p.m
Anyone who has had close contact with monkeypox patients should be quarantined in Great Britain for three weeks. According to Health Minister Lauterbach, recommendations for Germany could be presented on Tuesday.
People in close contact with those infected with monkeypox should be quarantined in the UK for three weeks. This is recommended by the British health authority UKHSA in a recent statement. Close contacts are people who have had sexual intercourse with infected people, live with them in the same household or have changed their bed linen without protective clothing.
In addition to quarantine, these individuals should also receive smallpox vaccination. Pregnant women, children under the age of twelve and people with a suppressed immune system should protect themselves as much as possible from contact with infected people.
More cases expected in Germany
In Germany there are still no general recommendations for action, but the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is working on it, said a spokeswoman. This also includes clarifying whether and for whom smallpox vaccination is recommended. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he expected the recommendations to be presented on Tuesday.
His Ministry of Health also expects increasing numbers of infections in Germany, but the RKI does not expect a wave. So far four cases are known: three in Berlin, one in Munich. Other suspected cases are already being investigated.
It is assumed that the usual smallpox vaccination also works against monkeypox. Vaccination was mandatory in West Germany until 1975 and in East Germany until 1982. According to the federal government, Germany also stored around 100 million doses of smallpox vaccine.
Monkey pox: RKI does not expect a wave of infection
Robert Holm, RBB, Morgenmagazin, May 23, 2022
Systematic recording required
So far, the West African monkeypox variant has been detected in the infections found in Europe, but further genome analyzes are still ongoing. In order to register possible diseases and prevent further spread, discovered cases of infection should be systematically recorded and isolated. These should be reported by doctors and laboratories in accordance with the Infection Protection Act.
The virus originated in primates and other free-living animals. According to the authorities, the danger posed by monkeypox to the population is manageable. The virus usually causes only mild symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain and skin rash. Severe courses are possible, up to and including fatal courses. The pathogen is mainly transmitted via direct contact or contact with contaminated materials.
Lauterbach: Address risk groups honestly
In the cases that have occurred so far, an accumulation in homosexual men has been found. “Since the infection is transmitted through close skin contact and possibly also through mucous membrane contact and droplets, I currently recommend particular caution and avoidance of close unprotected contact with unknown people,” said Leif Erik Sander, chief infectiologist at the Berlin Charité.
Health Minister Lauterbach emphasized that risk groups must be addressed honestly. This is for their protection and should not be misunderstood as stigmatization. Lauterbach appealed to men who had anonymous sex with other men to pay attention to skin changes and fever and to seek medical treatment very quickly if there was any suspicion.
Lauterbach said the global outbreak is so unusual that there is concern about whether it will play out like previous monkeypox outbreaks. It is more likely that the way of spreading could have changed, “so that we now have to react quickly and hard to contain a global outbreak again”. Sander said similarly: “The dynamics of the current monkeypox outbreak are unusual and must therefore be taken very seriously until the chains of infection and transmission routes have been better characterized and effectively broken.”
Historically, monkeypox infection was limited to people who had contacts in Central and West Africa. In the meantime, however, cases have been reported from numerous countries in Europe, North America and Australia, and there is now also a suspected case in South America. Mostly young men who have not been to Africa before are affected.