The director general of the WHO said he was “worried” Thursday of the increase in the number of variole cases of the monkey. More than 15,300 patients have been identified in sixty and eleven countries.
Le Monde with AFP
The European Medicines Agency (AEM) said Friday, July 22, that it has officially approved the use of the Imvansne vaccine against the variole of the monkey, the number of cases identified could arouse the maximum alert level of the alert of the ‘World Health Organization (WHO). The agency thus expands, due to the similarity between this virus and that of human smallpox, the use of a vaccine which has proven to be effective against the latter. “The AEM human medication committee has recommended extending the indication of the IMVANDEX antivariolic vaccine to include adult protection against the variole of the monkey,” said the European regulator in a Communicated .
The Imvansne vaccine, of the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, is administered in the United States for the prevention of human smallpox and the variolate of the monkey. In the European Union, it has been approved since 2013 only against human smallpox. In fact, he had compassionate use in France for the prevention of the variolate of the monkey.
The director general of the WHO said he was “worried” Thursday of the increase in the number of variole cases of the monkey when opening a meeting of the organization’s emergency committee, asking Advice to experts. It is to him that the responsibility of declaring the urgency of public health of international scope, the highest degree of alert of the health agency, based on the committee’s recommendations. During a first meeting on June 23, the majority of experts had recommended to Doctor Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus not to pronounce the urgency of public health of international scope.
The situation has worsened in recent weeks: now, more than 15,300 cases are identified in sixty and eleven countries, according to the latest figures from the United States health authorities.
Detected for the first time in humans in 1970, the variole of the monkey is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin variole, eradicated in 1980. The disease is first translated as a strong fever and evolves quickly in eruption cutaneous, with the formation of crusts. It is most often benign, and we generally cure spontaneously after two to three weeks.