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“It is less dangerous”, “the virus is present in Africa”… Olivier Schwartz, Director of the Virus and Immunity Unit at the Institut Pasteur, answers 7 very simple questions on monkeypox.
“There is more than 90% homology in the sequence with human smallpox”. While a hundred cases have been declared all over the world, Olivier Schwartz says more about monkeypox.
“It’s called monkeypox, but that’s not correct. Although it was first identified in monkeys, its natural reservoir is rodents, probably squirrels or rats.”
For the director of the Virus Unit at the Institut Pasteur, “it starts with what’s called flu-like illness and then a macular outbreak, which is pimples that appear all over the body.”
For him, this virus is nothing new. “What is newer is perhaps the scale and geographic dispersion since there are many countries that are affected”.
Until now, the virus had never crossed the borders of Africa.
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