Studio DN: This is how monkey pox spreads

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Monkey pox is unusual in Sweden, but how do you know if you have it?

– If you get a fever, swollen lymph nodes and blisters or small, often fluid-filled, rashes on the body. Then you can suspect that you have monkey pox, and then you should probably call 1177 and ask for advice on where to turn to get tested and get the diagnosis confirmed. There is nothing to sit in a waiting room at the health center for. Cases are reported by the health service, so it is important that you seek help and care.

There used to be another smallpox disease: smallpox. What is it?

– Smallpox was a viral disease that was a scourge for humans for millennia, and which was eradicated in 1980. It was the first disease we vaccinated away, and from 1816 all children in Sweden got vaccinated against smallpox, until 1976. But in the 18th century died 60 million people from smallpox, the vast majority of whom were children.

What do monkey pox and smallpox have in common?

– The virus is closely related, and the victims get fluid-filled blisters all over the body. They are transmitted in basically the same way, mainly through body fluids and close physical contact between people. It can also be transmitted through sexual contact. But one disease is deadly and the other is not. It is important to remember.

Why have the monkey cups got so much attention right now?

– What is new and interesting is that the disease has begun to spread outside Africa. Until now, the infection has been most prevalent in Central and Western Africa, and the times it has spread outside that area, it has been in connection with trade in small animals and travelers that brought the disease with them. It can now be seen that it has begun to spread within groups both in Europe and in other parts of the world. Researchers are worried: Why is it spreading in this way now? Especially as the virus is not particularly contagious.

This is an excerpt from the podcast Studio DN. In the section you will also find out why the monkey pox is not a new pandemic – and what we should worry about instead.

Listen to the entire episode here:

Host: Sanna Torén Björling
Producer: Sabina Marmullakaj

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Read more:

Johan Nilsson: We know that about the disease smallpox

Anna Bratt: The Apkopps virus is behaving in a new way

Cases of monkey pox in Stockholm

Monkey pox is unlikely to lead to a pandemic