Our first case of monkeypox has landed and New Zealanders are being advised to follow the public health advice and stay calm.
The Ministry of Health is revealing little detail about the country’s first case except that the person is aged in their thirties, lives in Auckland and had recently returned from a country with reported cases of monkeypox.
Cases of monkeypox are currently on the rise globally with around 9000 cases reported in 60 countries.
It is not known what has caused the resurgence of the disease which is related to the smallpox virus family and has been endemic in parts of Africa for more than 50 years.
“There’s 9000 cases around the world so actually in context of the population it’s not great,” says Dr Bryan Betty, Medical Director of the Royal College of GP’s.
Betty says the increase in Monkeypox cases is very different to the global Covid-19 pandemic that swept the world in early 2020.
“I don’t know if we’re in the space of a pandemic like Covid-19 at all so I think we just need to take a step back and be careful.”
One noticeable aspect about the growth in cases has been higher rates of transmission among gay and bi-sexual men.
This has prompted health experts to advise the sexually active to take precaution in areas where monkeypox is prevalent.
“Anyone can catch monkeypox, but on the other hand we cannot ignore the fact that at the moment the vast majority of cases occur among gay and bi-sexual men,” says Dr Massimo Giola. “We have a very clear risk population at the moment.”
Monkeypox symptoms include headaches, acute onset of fever, body aches and a blister like rash across the face, mouth and genitals.
Pharmac is now in the process of procuring an updated version of vaccine used to treat smallpox.
The vaccine is in short global supply and production is ramping up.
There is no indication where New Zealand sits in what is now a global queue for the third generation vaccine.
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