Several cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Europe. At present, no confirmed cases of the virus have been reported in the Czech Republic. The likelihood of transmission between individuals without close sexual contact is considered low. Photo credit: Freepik
Czech Republic, 24 May (BD) – No cases of monkeypox have been found in the Czech Republic, according to the State Institute of Public Health (SZÚ). One suspicious sample tested negative for the virus, and no other suspected cases of the disease have been recorded by the institute.
SZÚ sent out a so-called algorithm to the professional public: a uniform guide on how to proceed in case of suspected monkeypox. The document describes how doctors should take, handle, and deliver samples for examination to the institute. “The whole chain of procedures works well, which we have already verified in the first case of suspicion of this disease,” said SZÚ spokeswoman Štěpánka Čechová.
Since 2018, seven cases of monkeypox have been reported in the United Kingdom (2018, 2019 and 2021), mainly related to travel to countries where the virus is endemic. However, this is the first time that transmission chains have been reported in Europe without known epidemiological links to West and Central Africa. The risk of transmitting the monkeypox virus is considered to be moderate among humans. However, the virus is transmissible when engaging in unprotected sex; intimate contact with infectious skin lesions during sex appears to be a likely mode of transmission. The probability of transmission between individuals without close contact is considered very low.
The disease can also be transmitted from animal to human by biting, scratching, consuming the meat of wild animals or coming into contact with their body fluids, as well as from contaminated litter. The illness usually lasts two to four weeks, and most patients recover. Studies in Africa have shown a mortality rate of about 3.6 percent, and up to ten percent among those not vaccinated against smallpox. People with weakened immunity are especially at risk, and mortality is higher among children and young adults.
