What is monkeypox and do you need to be worried?

With cases being reported all around the world, specialists are trying to figure out where the illnesses are coming from and how they are spreading.

What is monkeypox and do you need to be worried?

With monkeypox being found in countries ranging from the United States to Australia and France to the United Kingdom, we examine the situation to see if it warrants alarm.

What is monkeypox?

Monkeypox is a virus that primarily affects Central and Western Africa. Cases are occasionally diagnosed in other countries, usually in tiny clusters or single infections, such as the United Kingdom, where the first case was reported in 2018 in a person believed to have contracted the virus in Nigeria.

Monkeypox comes in two varieties: a milder west African strain and a more severe central African, or Congo, variant. Although not all nations have disclosed such information, it is believed that the freshly diagnosed people have the west African strain in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Early signs of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and chills, as well as other traits such as tiredness, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

The UKHSA states, "A rash can occur, often beginning on the face and extending to other regions of the body, including the genitals." "The rash varies and progresses through stages, resembling chickenpox or syphilis until eventually creating a scab that peels off."

Most patients recover from monkeypox in a few weeks.

How is it spread?

Monkeypox is difficult to spread between humans and necessitates close contact. Human-to-human transmission is expected to occur predominantly by large respiratory droplets, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC explains that because respiratory droplets can only reach a few feet, prolonged face-to-face contact is required. "Direct contact with body fluids or lesion material, as well as indirect contact with lesion material, such as through contaminated clothing or linens, are other human-to-human means of transmission."

Where have recent cases been found?

Cases of monkeypox have been verified in a number of countries where it is not endemic in recent weeks, including the United States, Canada, Italy, Portugal, and Sweden, with the first cases reported on Friday in Germany and Australia. In Spain and France, suspected cases have been discovered.

While some instances have been discovered in persons who have recently traveled to Africa, others have not: one of the two Australian cases discovered so far was in a man who had recently returned from Europe, and the other was in a man who had recently visited the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, a case in the United States appears to be in a man who just visited Canada.

Monkeypox has been reported in the United Kingdom, with indicators that it is spreading. There have been 20 confirmed cases thus far, with the first being recorded on May 7 in a patient who had recently traveled to Nigeria.

Some of the cases appear to be unrelated, and some have been diagnosed in guys who identify as gay, bisexual, or having sex with men.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced that it was now working with European health officials to coordinate efforts.

Does this mean monkeypox is sexually transmitted?

The recent instances, according to Dr Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, may represent the first time monkeypox has been transmitted through sexual contact, although this has not been proved, and in any case, it is likely to close contact that matters.

"There's no proof it's a sexually transmitted virus like HIV," says Head. "It's more likely that close touch during sexual or personal activities, including prolonged skin-to-skin contact, is a crucial role in transmission."

The UKHSA is warning homosexual and bisexual men, as well as other populations of males who have sex with men, to be on the lookout for strange rashes or lesions on any region of their body, especially the face.

How concerned should we be?

Currently, the answer appears to be no. Experts believe significant epidemics are unlikely, but it is critical to identify affected people's contacts.

Dr. Susan Hopkins, the UKHSA's chief medical adviser, describes the scenario as "rare and exceptional," but adds, "UKHSA is quickly examining the source of these infections because the data suggests that the monkeypox virus may be transmitted in the community, spread by intimate contact."

On Friday, it was revealed that the United Kingdom had purchased the smallpox vaccine, a related but more severe virus that has been eradicated. "Vaccination against smallpox has been found to be roughly 85 percent effective in preventing monkeypox in many observational studies," according to the World Health Organization.

"Those who required the vaccine have been offered it," a UKHSA representative stated.

Spain is also rumored to be attempting to purchase vaccination supplies, despite the fact that other countries, such as the United States, have substantial stockpiles of the vaccine.