Um, do we assume that there are cases in Ireland at this
point or that there will be cases in Ireland?
There might be, none at the moment, I guess. But it is spreading.
You know it is transmitting between people, and the question
is will it spread into many different countries.
We'll wait and see if it comes to Ireland.
It's quite hard to catch, actually, to be honest, very close
contacts needed between, say, to oppress someone who's infected
when it isn't for a prolonged period of time.
Not like covid by any means, which is much more contagious.
It's not the first time, though, that we have seen monkeypox come to Europe.
It has been here before.
What's new is it is the number of cases and how
quickly this seems to be transmitting.
Yeah, there were some single digit cases in the UK,
for instance, but there was one or two cases in 2018 in the US in 2000 and three.
There were 70 cases reported, you see, so we've
seen it around the world in the past.
What's happening now is lots of countries are reporting and something is happening.
The mystery is how are people catching it.
Actually, the first case was May 7th.
That was something someone who came back from Nigeria, where it is endemic.
They brought it back to the UK, but many cases it's hard to track where
it came from, and hence people are slightly concerned because that
reason who is at risk of this virus, I mean, is it any more serious
for Children to catch it or pregnant women to catch it?
You know, anybody who would be in close contact with someone who's
infected now infected me to have these post field sores.
Like we see images of these.
They they have blister fluid, which is which is full of virus basis.
If you're in close contact with someone with these blisters that you're
at risk of catching it, basically or sometimes it's a nasty disease.
Yeah, you'll have it for 2, 3, 4 weeks.
Your skin will be covered in these pox
You know, these pox vesicles
We call them on your skin and so on.
And then you'll feel pretty feverish and sick, you see, so it's pretty nasty, but most
people get over it, you see, and it's seen as not that not that dangerous it is the
The mortality rate for the one that's there at the moment is less than 1%.
It could be as low as 0.1% you see, So it's not seen
as a hugely serious disease for the moment.
So what happens then?
If you contract it, Is it the type of thing that you just deal with at home?
Do you need to quarantine?
Is it?
You know, back to contacting close contacts?
Yes.
Yeah.
You isolate if you have the pockmarks on you because they're very infectious.
Stay home.
Basically, you know, and remember, not like Covid
But you will spread it if you're symptomatic.
Of course, Covid, there was asymptomatic spread
which might be very difficult to catch.
You see this one?
It's only people with the symptoms that spread that you see.
So anybody with symptoms should stay home Now.
Interestingly, there's a vaccine.
The smallpox vaccine works against it in the same family as smallpox.
And that vaccine is available, you see, and as an antiviral,
a drug called tea pox will kill the virus.
So again, unlike Covid, we have the weapons already that the
vaccines and and the antiviral listed to deploy against it.
So who is it affecting in the main, then?
It's mainly young men at the moment, it turns out they reckon it
looks like sexual contact is close contact with anybody.
Catch it.
You know somebody who you are any kind of close.
Contact means you can probably catch it off someone else.
The current cases is in
men have sex with men, they call them.
Basically, you know, they seem to be a group who who have caught it initially.
But remember, anybody can catch it through close contact.
And any understanding why that demographic appears
to be more impacted or more affected by this?
No, that's been examined closely.
Now the track down the track it and try to figure out what's happened here.
It could have been a few cases in that community.
Maybe it begins to spread there, a bit like HIV began.
And then anybody get HIV, you see, so so sexual
contact is what is obviously close contacts.
One reason why I can spread.
But it's not a sexually transmitted.
No, not an STI at all? No, no.
It can be spread through sex that's close contact with
any kind of close contact will spread this disease.
So what can you possibly do then to avoid it, or is the likelihood that
very, very few of us will catch it well, the European Centre for Disease
Control tonight said it's very unlikely it will spread in the general
population, basically because it is quite hard to catch.
First of all, you see, secondly, it's only people
with these symptoms that can spread it.
So of course, that means you can avoid People say that they can stay home, whatever
it might be, you know, So the chance of becoming like a huge big thing like
Oh, but it's extremely unlikely as the current, but they haven't been able
to control it in the UK at the moment it is spreading there.
I know the numbers are small, but you know, they've gone from
a handful of cases to, you know, I think 50 or 60 cases at
this point in quite a short period of time they have.
But it's going to be self limiting.
In previous outbreaks in Africa, for example, it will last for a
few months and then goes away because people isolate themselves
when they have the symptoms you see and gradually goes away.
You know, now we're seeing a slight upside.
The tiny numbers of cases is extremely rare, like
56 people out of what is it? 55 million.
That's a very rare disease, basically.
But again, it's being monitored like any infectious diseases being watched.
Now, I guess for me it's one of the scientists and doctors to keep an eye
on, not the general public across role hyper viruses, aren't we?
You know, if this had happened before the pandemic,
it wouldn't it wouldn't be in the news.
I venture, for example.
You know, it's simply because we're obsessed with this kind of.
I did wonder that because I was thinking back to some of the issues
that we've covered in the programme the last couple of months
and I was thinking of these sort of rare disease.
I think of hepatitis, for example in Children, which, you know, we
were speaking about in the programme last week and I was wondering,
Are there more of these diseases making the headlines?
Because we are that much more aware of viruses and perhaps
frightened the viruses that we were in the past.
I think so, yes.
This massive attention, the big fear will have covid again,
say, or this will be like another type of viral disease.
That lockdown has to happen is in our minds, isn't hence, the media order.
It's understandable.
Concern isn't there, you know.
But at the moment, as I say, it's a very rare disease.
It isn't as lethal than any means.
It's covid, but scientific tits like covid or anything else.
Scientifically, it's a fascination.
Let's put it that way because it's a DNA virus.
First of all, they don't mutate anywhere like the
ordinary viruses like Covid, for example.
So the chance it's it's a mutant version is slim.
It's it's a possibility, but it's a very slim chances that
this is a new form of monkeypox is much more damage.
That's unlikely at the moment.
You see, from what we know, so you would say the message to the general public.
Don't be worried about it.
Don't worry at all at the moment, and they will keep an eye on it.
Remember, let's see if it does come to Ireland.
If it does come to Ireland, then we might run.
But if there is especially a group now has been assembled by the HSC.
Just to keep an eye on this, you seem to see what happens.
But for the general public, leave it up to the doctors and the scientists.
At the moment, let's see what happens in the coming weeks.