Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Acting Minister of Health, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, addressed the cabinet on Wednesday, regarding the “monkeypox” disease.
Abdel Ghaffar stated that the ministry is following the global epidemiological situation, and there are no cases of monkeypox in Egypt that have been proven positive, explaining that the monkeypox virus is not a cause for concern, and the entire world is watching and monitoring.
Monkeypox is a viral disease of zoonotic origin that mainly occurs in forest areas in Central and West Africa. Symptoms of this disease appear with fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to several health complications.
He stressed that this virus is completely different from the Coronavirus, and that the number of cases infected with it around the world has so far reached 250 cases.
The minister explained that the disease has existed for many years and is not a novelty or appears for the first time, as it was first discovered in laboratory monkeys in 1958, noting that the virus that causes “monkeypox” is very close to the virus that causes smallpox, and is less deadly and less transmissible.
He also stressed that the transmission of smallpox from person to person is not easy, but it may be transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with materials contaminated with the virus. Monkeypox is less contagious than smallpox and causes less serious diseases.
The minister revealed that it has been proven through many existing studies that regular smallpox vaccinations have proven to be 85% effective with monkeypox, pointing out that there is no chance for the monkeypox virus to mutate.
