No monkeypox cases reported in Egypt: Health Ministry

CAIRO – 30 May 2022: Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said that no cases of monkeypox virus have been reported in Egypt so far.

He added that monkeypox virus was discovered in 1958, explaining that the virus that causes monkeypox is very close to the virus that causes smallpox, but it is less fatal and less contagious.

“No fears from this virus, as Egypt has had vaccines and research on this disease since a long time”, Abdel Ghaffar said.

On May 25, Abdel Ghaffar noted that the health ministry is following up the monkeypox worldwide. “The number of monkeypox cases mounted to 250 cases worldwide”, he added.

He affirmed that the ministry is ready to face such a virus and is working to get vaccines and medications to treat it.

The vaccination was demonstrated to be about 85% effective in preventing monkeypox, he further said.

In a statement on its official Facebook page last week, the ministry stressed that the monkeypox virus is spread through close body contact, not over long distances through the air.

The ministry indicated that its symptoms include fever and skin rash.

Dr. Ahmed Salman, Professor of Immunology and Vaccine Development at Oxford University, said that the symptoms of monkeypox are similar to the symptoms of ordinary smallpox, as they begin with a rise in temperature and general cracking in the body, while there are blisters and pus all over the body.

Dr. Salman added, in a telephone interview with Egypt Can TV program, that monkeypox causes humans swollen lymph nodes and pimples appear on the face significantly.

Doctors can differential between normal smallpox and monkeypox through specific medical tests.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is working closely with countries where cases of the rare viral disease monkeypox have been reported, the UN agency said on Friday.

WHO said in a statement that there were around 80 cases confirmed so far, across 11 countries, with a further 50 cases pending investigation.

The UN health agency stressed that monkeypox spreads differently from COVID-19, encouraging all people "to stay informed from reliable sources, such as national health authorities" on the extent of any outbreak in their own communities.