The Ministry of Health has sent an alert to the health departments, the Public Health centers and the AIDS Information and Prevention Centers (CIPS) of the Valencian Community with indications of what monkey pox (Monkeypox) is, what What are its causes and how can it be detected?

The department that Miguel Mínguez now directs after the departure of Ana Barceló, includes instructions so that, in the event that cases are identified that meet the definition criteria, "they urgently contact the Preventive Medicine services to initiate the corresponding epidemiological investigation.

Likewise, a meeting of the Alert Report of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES) has been called, in which the Ministry of Health and the different autonomous communities participate to coordinate a joint action protocol, which will also be distributed from the Ministry.

Regarding this zoonotic infection, it should be noted that it is transmitted by contact and exposure to droplets, both through saliva or respiratory excretions as well as by contact with the exudate of the lesion or the material of the scab.

Its incubation period can range from five to twenty-one days and, at the moment, there is no type of treatment available, while the symptoms resolve spontaneously after approximately two weeks.

The main symptoms are fever, headache, muscle and back pain, as well as chills and exhaustion. On the other hand, the main difference with human smallpox is that monkey pox causes the lymph nodes to be swollen.

In this regard, the researcher of the Higher Council for Scientific Research of Spain (CSIC) Margarita del Val has explained that monkeypox is "a reasonably benign disease, but very annoying as it causes very large and striking lesions on the skin".

Del Val, in statements to the media before speaking in Valencia at the first International Summit on Pandemic Management, stressed that it is necessary to "locate the origin of the transmission and stop it as soon as possible." In Madrid, eight possible suspected cases have been detected and are being studied.

Thus, the virologist explained that this disease is caused by a virus called monkeypox that is transmitted by rodents - the name is "incorrect", she pointed out - and that it generates "very large and striking lesions on the skin when just like smallpox."