A preliminary small study of the above cases suggested that monkeypox symptoms may pass more quickly when patients are treated with an antiviral known, but not yet approved, in the UK.
Monkeypox, a relative of smallpox, is a rare viral disease that can be spread through animal bites or consumption of undercooked meat, and can be spread from person to person through close contact. correlation. Early symptoms of infection may include chills, fatigue, fever, and muscle aches; More severe cases usually have rashes on the face and genitals, and can spread to other parts of the body before scabies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 131 confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide, and another 106 suspected cases, the first case outside the countries where it usually spreads in May 7.
There is currently no licensed specific treatment for monkeypox.
In their study, Dr Hugh Adler of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and colleagues looked at seven cases of monkeypox diagnosed in the UK between 2018 and 2021, including the first recorded cases of hospital transmission. and household transmission outside Africa. .
Four of the cases originated in West Africa and 3 cases were the result of person-to-person transmission. One of the patients was a health care worker who developed symptoms after exposure to an infected patient.
The patients, who recovered after isolation and treatment, received trial courses of two different antiviral drugs, brincidofovir and tecovirimat, which had previously shown potential to cure monkeypox in animals.
The team found little evidence to suggest that brincidofovir treatments were beneficial, but instead concluded that tecovirimat appears to shorten the duration of monkeypox symptoms and thus may also reduce the amount of time. that infected patients are contagious.
Tecovirimat is licensed in the United States and the European Union for the treatment of monkeypox, but has not yet been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
However, due to the small cohort analyzed in the study, more research on the potential of tekovirimat will be needed to validate the results.
The team also said it was possible that taking brincidofovir earlier in the course of the disease, or according to a different dosing schedule, would produce different results and therefore may provide further diagnosis.
Dr Adler said: “Public health officials are trying to understand the cause of the May 2022 monkeypox outbreak in Europe and North America. Our study provides some initial insights into the use of antivirals in the treatment of monkeypox in humans. Although this recent outbreak has affected many more people. In the UK, historically, monkeypox has not been transmitted very well between humans and, in general, the risk to public health is small ”.
His colleague, Dr Nick Price, from Guy’s & St Thomas NHS, added: “The cases we have seen have been difficult and resource intensive to manage, even in the UK’s high -income environment. In traveling internationally back to pre-pandemic levels, health officials must The public and health workers around the world must remain vigilant to the possibility of new cases of monkeypox. ”
As part of their study, the team also reported detecting the monkeypox virus in the blood and through throat swabs.
These findings may help global health experts in their quest to identify the best monitoring and infection control strategies for this disease.
According to the researchers, it is important to maintain response centers to manage future monkeypox outbreaks.
The full results of the study were published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Source: express
Source: Arabic RT
