Speaking to the Lusa agency, the doctor said that there is fear that the country will register cases of this disease, taking into account the very large movement between Africa and Europe.
"Yes, there is this fear, because Europe at this time is having a very considerable number of cases, not only Europe but also America and this number of cases, unfortunately, has been spreading", he said.
According to the doctor, this movement between the two continents, mainly by air, increased with the resumption of economic activity and "there is this risk".
"What we have to do is ensure that the surveillance system works to the point of identifying these same problems and fixing them as quickly as possible", he stressed.
For the specialist in public health, the country will have "a very big challenge to control this infection".
"We still don't know how this infection will unfold in our country, because we already have many viral diseases and it may be likely that, like covid-19, our body is better prepared to defend itself against a virus. probable invasion of the organism by this virus, but it is something that we have not yet mastered, but we are all on alert", he observed.
The Monkeypox virus is of the Orthopoxvirus genus (smallpox is the best known of this genus) and the disease is transmitted through contact with animals, or close contact with infected people or contaminated materials.
The disease is rare and usually does not spread easily among humans and in Portugal there are already 23 cases, according to the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).