Marco Cavalieri, director of vaccine strategy of the European drug administration, said on the 2nd that the monkeypox outbreak in Europe does not yet constitute a public health emergency. Cavalieri said at the press conference that the risk of monkeypox infection among ordinary people is low. Even if the number of infected people will increase, it is not expected that there will be a surge. The focus of coping with monkeypox epidemic should be on the identification, monitoring and management of new cases.
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He said that although the monkeypox outbreak and large-scale geographical spread are "unusual", most patients have mild symptoms and can recover without treatment.
He also introduced that the EU has authorized the use of two drugs, tecovir and imvanex, for the prevention and treatment of monkeypox. Tecovir is an antiviral drug for the treatment of smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox, and imvanex is a smallpox vaccine for the protection of adults. However, animal data show that it is effective in the prevention of monkeypox.
