The Canadian Press
Jean-Benoit Legault
An electron microscope image shows the smallpox virus in Madrid, Thursday 26 May 2022. Photo by Unidad de Microscopia Electronica del ISCIII, via AP / THE CANADIAN PRESS
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MONTREAL – A Canadian plays an important role in the fight of the World Health Organizations against the smallpox of monkeys.
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Dr. Rosamund Lewis, the technical leader in the fight against a global virus outbreak at the WHO Emergency Management Program, grew up in Thunder Bay, Odd. and in Ottawa. A graduate of McGill University School of Medicine, Lewis practiced in Montreal before joining the WHO. The organization is currently working to suppress the spread of monkey pox, which comes from the same virus family as smallpox. The Canadian press reached out to Lewis in Geneva, Switzerland for an interview. —– What do we know about the spread of this disease? We think it is transmitted by rodents, but we do not know what species it lives in naturally. In Africa, we find the virus in the Congolese rope squirrel, the rat that has been bitten by the Gambia, the dormitory and the like. People hunt in the forest and bring back meat that they have to prepare. This is the traditional type of exposure (to the virus). It is also possible for the family to eat flawless meat. This meat could also be sold in a market, so even people who do not have direct exposure to the forest can be exposed.
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But another important factor is that smallpox was eradicated in 1980, so people born after 1980 or in some countries after 1960 or 1970 did not have the opportunity to be vaccinated against smallpox. Has he ever seen smallpox in the west? There were two cases in the United Kingdom in 2021 and two in the United States, also in 2021. There was also an outbreak in the United States in 2003, but it had nothing to do with the current situation. It was very strange. It involved meadow dogs that were introduced to be sold as pets and children began to get sick after being scratched or bitten. It took about three months to understand the nature of the epidemic and to reduce it. How did today’s outbreak start? We have received reports from the United Kingdom once again. He was a traveler returning from Nigeria and found out he had monkey pox and I said to myself, “okay, get started”. The UK found an outbreak in a family and was completely unexpected because it involved three members of the same family. It was the first time we had seen monkey pox outside Africa in someone who had not traveled recently, so this was new. (The British) later found it in their lab samples that were positive and came from men who had sex with other men.
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At the same time, Portugal reported an outbreak of people with undiagnosed injuries. They were negative for herpes, negative for syphilis, so the Portuguese were looking for information and relatively quickly, Portugal and the United Kingdom realized they were experiencing the same thing. They were men who had sex with men, participated in certain events and then returned home. The first cases were all related to travel from Central Europe. We are here about now, except that we see many cases and it spreads to this group of people who have frequent physical contact with more than one person, probably in a very short time, so the conditions are right for fast transmission and spread.
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So is there an opportunity for action that should not be missed? Yes, and it is important to take advantage (of this moment) before the virus affects a general population, family members, children, vulnerable people, for example, people who are HIV positive. But we can not be worried. The vast majority of cases still refer to this group, so it is where the transmission occurs, it is not too late to stop the outbreak in this group, although it can be difficult. That said, there are still many things we do not know about the virus and we need to be honest and admit it. The virus itself may have undergone changes that make it more contagious, but we have certainly seen behaviors that make it more contagious. This disease appears as an infectious disease that is transmitted through close contact, including sexual contact. So the message to the public is this: educate yourself, learn to recognize the signs and symptoms, find out under what conditions you can become infected, protect yourself and others, and, when in doubt, seek diagnosis. This interview, which took place on June 6, 2022, has been edited and summarized for scope and clarity. —- This Canadian Press report was first published on June 11, 2022.
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