Smallpox vaccine offers 85 pct protection against monkeypox virus: UAE experts

Smallpox vaccine offers 85 pct protection against monkeypox virus: UAE experts

Residents who have taken a smallpox vaccine are protected from the monkeypoxvirus by about 85 percent, health experts based in the United Arab Emirates have told Al Arabiya English.

Dr. Gunjan Mahajan, special clinical pathologist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai, said that human monkeypox infections are rare outside Central and Western Africa where the virus is endemic in animals and “circulates in heavily forested areas.”

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“But as cases with no known travel links to Africa emerge in several countries, it became a concerning issue.”

Dr. Amaka Kate Uzu, family medicine consultant at Bareen International Hospital in Abu Dhabi, echoed Dr. Mahajan’s sentiment.

“Since the monkeypoxvirus is closely associated with the virus that causes smallpox, the smallpox vaccine can also protect individuals from monkeypox,” said the doctor.

Monkeypox is a zoonotic virus – meaning it can be transmitted from animals to humans – and comes from a family of viruses which includes the now-eradicated smallpox virus.

In the past, vaccines and drugs were developed to treat and eliminate smallpox, and have been known to provide some protection against the monkeypox virus.

This has become a particularly concerning over the past month, as more cases began