Is there a danger of smallpox in our country and are preventive measures being taken by the health authorities?

When and how did this infection occur?

What is the development of Kovid and its variants at the moment in our country?

I am talking to Assoc. Prof. Lyubomira Nikolaeva Glomb, virologist specializing in "Clinical Virology".

She is the head of the virology department at the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases.

The monkey smallpox virus has been known since 1958, when it was first isolated from laboratory monkeys on a Danish farm.

It was first described as a human infection in 1970 in a young Congolese child.

Since then, the virus has existed in endemic form, ie.

in isolated areas of the world - Central and West Africa.

It exists in two forms - the Congolese variant and the West African variant, the former being characterized by more severe symptoms and high lethality.

10 percent of those infected are at risk of death.

While the other option is weaker and is characterized by a milder course of the disease.

Already in many countries - 42 of the WHO members, there are established cases of infection with smallpox.

Sequencing of these infections revealed that they were of the West African type.

As of June 15, 2,103 people were infected, and most of them were found to be men who had sex with other men.

The clinical picture of patients is slightly different from that observed in West Africa.

There are currently no registered deaths, hospitalization is extremely rare.

Every infectious disease in modern communications has no guarantee that it will not arrive in Bulgaria.

Our center is ready to face such a danger, which would have previously been identified in the offices of dermatology and venereology and possibly in gynecology, as well as general practitioners and infectious disease specialists.

The Ministry of Health has already distributed documents and instructions to be careful for such cases, but so far there are no indications of the disease in our country.

What will happen next, I do not know, because infectious diseases do not recognize borders.

Unfortunately, we've been living with the Kovid virus for two and a half years now, which hasn't gone away, it's here, but other news has just replaced it.

For example, today there are 310 cases of proven covid infection.

40 of them need hospital treatment, there are some that need to be inhaled.

What worries me is that today there are twice as many cases as last week and the week before.

Another worrying thing is the percentage of positive samples.

We do a little research, unfortunately.

Epidemiology is a science that needs time to keep up with trends.

I hope that the double increase in those infected with covid variants is temporary.

In Europe, there is a steep rise in the number of infected.

New variants of the infection are not affected by previous vaccinations.

What is emerging as a trend in Western countries, where there are more infected people, is that there are few hospitalizations there as well.

People with concomitant diseases are at risk again and my medical advice is for those who have not been immunized, let them do it now, also the third dose, for those who have not given it.

It is important because, for example, in Greece, the number of infected already exceeds 7-8 thousand per day.

And we know that many Bulgarians spend their summers there.

Let people keep calm, because, as we have known since childhood from Carlson, who lives on the roof, "the key to a prosperous life is peace and good food."

I would add common sense.

kovid

Assoc. Prof. L.N. Glomb

monkeypox