Europe: The European Medicines Agency-EMA has given the green light to a smallpox vaccine to extend its use against the spread of monkeypox. The authorities made the announcement on Friday.
The medicine has been approved in the European Union since 2013 for the prevention of smallpox and contains a weakened form of the vaccine virus called “modified vaccine virus Ankara.”
Moreover, the agency mentioned in the statement, “EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) has recommended extending the indication of the smallpox vaccine Imvanex to include protecting adults from monkeypox disease.”
The vaccine was approved against monkeypox because of the similarity between the monkeypox virus and the smallpox virus.
On Thursday, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, mentioned in a statement that he was “concerned” about the rising number of monkeypox cases and asked experts for advice.
As per the latest and most-up-date figures from the United States health authorities (CDC), the situation has worsened in recent weeks, with over 15,300 cases has been detected in 71 nations, more than 220 of them in Belgium.
It the first detected in humans in 1970, and the monkeypox virus is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin, smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.
Furthermore, a monkeypox infection’s first symptom is usually a high fever, which quickly develops into a rash with crusting.
Mostly begin, it usually heals spontaneously after two to three weeks.
