Crimeans explained how dangerous monkeypox is and how it is transmitted

Cases of monkeypox in Russia are imported and isolated, there is no threat of a pandemic, and the virus is transmitted by contact and airborne droplets. This was told by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Department of Anatomy and Human and Animal Physiology of the Faculty of Biology of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A. I. Herzen Ekaterin Nikitin.

According to her, monkeypox was originally an animal-related infection. Outbreaks have mostly occurred in Africa, where humans have been infected by monkeys. The 2003 epidemic in the U.S. also started not with humans, but with meadow dogs infected by imported rats from Africa. Transmission of the virus from person to person appeared relatively recently, this is the history of the XXI century.

In Russia, cases of the disease are imported. The first infections were found in people returning from Thailand. The risk of importation remains, so when traveling abroad, especially to African countries, you need to be vigilant. There are many viruses that Europeans have never encountered and for which there are no vaccines.

Ekaterina Nikitina believes that there is no serious threat to St. Petersburg and Russia. A pandemic in our climate and with the imported nature of the disease is hardly worth waiting, because cases are rare in the world.

There is no specific vaccine against monkeypox yet, although relevant developments are underway in Russia.