As reported by Radio Wrocław, the first patient in Lower Silesia to contract monkeypox will be discharged home today or tomorrow:

The man treated at the Gromkowski Hospital in Wrocław had been isolated from the other patients for a week. The patient did not require advanced treatment.

The Wrocław outlet adds:

For now, he is the only patient of this kind, but it cannot be ruled out that more cases may appear.

When this disease will reach Bolesławiec remains unknown.

Let us recall. More than a month ago, we reported that the aforementioned disease had already reached Poland. The information was confirmed on 10 June by the Minister of Health himself, Adam Niedzielski.

What is monkeypox?

Monkeypox is a zoonotic infectious disease. Under favorable conditions, including close contact and intimate contact, it can also be transmitted from person to person. It is caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), which belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus. The course of monkeypox infections observed in Europe is mild or moderate; no deaths caused by the disease have been recorded so far.

Ministry of Health: – According to the scientific information available to date, the infection does not have an asymptomatic course such as that seen in the case of COVID-19.

What are the sources of infection and routes of transmission?

  • from animals: direct contact with infected animals through their blood or bodily fluids (mainly squirrels and rabbits, but also infected mice or rats), or as a result of being bitten by an infected animal;
  • from humans: through droplets or through blood and secretions during direct contact with an infected person, via mucous membranes.

What are the initial symptoms of the disease?

  • high fever, above 38.50ºC
  • generalized or localized enlargement of the lymph nodes (unlike chickenpox)
  • headache
  • back pain
  • marked weakness.

What are the later symptoms, appearing after some time?

  • After 1–3 days, the patient develops a rash (in the following order: macules, papules, vesicles, pustules, scabs).
  • The rash usually begins on the face and then spreads to other parts of the body.
  • When the rash appears, the sick person is infectious.
  • The rash persists for 2–4 weeks.
  • Scars left after the scabs fall off as a result of the rash are very deep, but they disappear over a period of 1–4 years.

At the same time, on 23 May 2022, in its guidelines for the laboratory diagnosis of monkeypox, the WHO indicated that the clinical picture of cases in Europe may differ from the one presented above. Therefore, when deciding whether diagnostics for MPXV are necessary, both the clinical picture and epidemiological information should be taken into account, assessing the overall probability of infection.

Is there a vaccine?

Ministry: – There is no vaccine against monkeypox. The third-generation ImvanexTM vaccine against smallpox, registered in the European Union in 2013 and containing a modified Ankara vaccinia virus strain (MVA), is not registered for use in preventing monkeypox. It is also not available through retail sales.

More information is available on the Ministry of Health website. What do you think? We invite you to join the discussion.