Monkeypox virus outbreak symptoms

Monkeypox virus outbreak symptoms

Sorry if you're still recovering from the Covid epidemic, but there's a new infection to contend with. This time its monkeypox, and there are roughly 80 confirmed cases in 11 countries, including the United Kingdom, where the disease isn't generally found.

So, what exactly is going on? Is it time to be concerned, or are we unduly optimistic after experiencing Covid?

Let's be clear: this isn't another Covid, and we're not on the verge of implementing lockdowns to stop the spread of monkeypox.

This is, nevertheless, a rare and exceptional monkeypox outbreak. It has caught disease experts completely off guard, and it is always a cause for alarm when a virus changes its behavior.

Monkeypox had been quite predictable up until now.

Wild animals, which are assumed to be rodents rather than monkeys, are the virus's natural habitat. Someone in the Western and Central African rainforests comes into contact with an infected critter, and the virus spreads between species. A rash appears on their skin, which boils and eventually scabs over.

The virus has left its usual habitat and is struggling to spread, necessitating prolonged intimate contact to survive. As a result, outbreaks are usually minor and pass quickly.

Small numbers of instances have previously surfaced elsewhere in the world, including the United Kingdom, but they're always tied to someone visiting an infected country and bringing it back.

That is no longer the case.

  . For the first time, the virus has been discovered in people who have no known ties to Western or Central  Africa.

  . It's unclear where individuals are getting it.

  . Monkeypox is transferred via sexual activity, with lesions on the genitals and surrounding area in the majority of cases.

  . Young gay and bisexual males are disproportionately affected.

Prof Sir Peter Horby, director of the University of Oxford's Pandemic Sciences Institute, told me, "We're in a completely new position, which is a surprise and a worry."

While he claims it isn't Covid-Two, he says "we need to act" to keep the virus from spreading since it's "something we really want to avoid."

"It's not a pattern we've seen previously - this is a surprise," says Dr. Hugh Adler, who has treated monkeypox patients.

What is monkeypox?

  Similar to smallpox but less severe and with fewer infections

Symptoms 

  . Fever, headaches, swellings, aching muscles, and exhaustion.

  . Itchy rash and lesions - mainly on the face, hands, and feet.

How is it spread?

   . Close contact with an infected person or an animal.

   . Touching clothing or bedding used by someone with the rash.

Treatment

   Smallpox vaccine and antiviral drugs can help relieve symptoms of monkeypox.

  
So what's going on?

We know this outbreak is unique, but we have no idea why.

There are two possibilities: the virus has evolved, or the same old virus has resurfaced in the right place at the appropriate moment to thrive.

As a DNA virus, monkeypox does not mutate as quickly as Covid or flu. According to preliminary genetic analysis, the recent cases are extremely closely connected to virus strains found in 2018 and 2019. It's too early to say for sure, but there's no proof yet that this is a new mutant strain at work.

Fever, headaches, swellings, aching muscles, and exhaustion.

"I don't think the general population need be concerned at this point," said Prof Jimmy Whitworth of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "But I don't think we've revealed everything, and we're not in control of this."

But keep in mind that we are not in the same situation as Covid.

Monkeypox is a well-known virus for which vaccinations and therapies are available. Although it is usually mild, it can be harmful in young children, pregnant women, and persons with weakened immune systems.

However, it spreads more slowly than Covid, and the unmistakable and severe rash makes it more difficult to ignore than a cough that may be anything. This makes it easy to track down those who may have been infected and vaccinate others who are at risk.

Hans Kluge, WHO's regional director for Europe, has cautioned that "as we enter the summer season... with mass gatherings, festivals, and parties, I am concerned that transmission could increase."