Monkeypox, a disease caused by a virus endemic to Africa but rare in Europe and North America, is spreading in these territories. As of May 19, according to the count of the Italian daily The Republic66 cases have been identified in five countries:“Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain, United States and Italy”. A list to which is added Canada, where 13 suspected cases are currently under study in Montreal.
For the moment, the number of cases recorded is rather low, but, due to the coronavirus, the attention of the authorities and the media in the face of the risk of a new pandemic remains high. Perhaps too much, according to two experts interviewed by the Washington Post.
Because monkey pox, or simian orthopoxvirus, is much less transmissible than Covid-19, underlines Aris Katzourakis, of the University of Oxford. This professor considers that there is currently no “the potential for global spread at the same level as the coronavirus”. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, considers the risk to the population “very, very low” at the time when we leave