What is monkeypox? And what are the symptoms that we should look for.

When we were just witnessing an end to the Coronavirus pandemic that taken a toll over the world!

Another virus has came into the scene called Monkeypox. But it's orgin is not new, it dates back to 1970,when the first case was found in a 9 month old boy, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa.

The disease caused by monkeypox virus, a zoonotic virus in the genus Orthopoxvirus,is known to be the variant of small pox. It was first identified as a distinct illness in 1958 among laboratory monkeys in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Monkeypox is mainly divided into two parts One is the West African, which is less transmissionable as compared to the one found in the Central African( Congo) parts. Earlier monkeypox was just found in the Western and central part of Africa, until the first case outside Africa was found among the Pat Paire dogs which were imported in the US, from Ghana. And then later in 2018 , it was found in UK, which was transmitted from two unrelated travellers from Nigeria.

Transmission:

• Animal-to-human (zoonotic) transmission can occur from direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or cutaneous or mucosal lesions of infected animals.

• Human-to-human transmission can result from close contact with respiratory secretions, skin lesions of an infected person or recently contaminated objects.

Symptoms :

• Early symptoms include headache, fatigue and fever.

• It can resemble chickenpox or small pox.

• In the 2022 monkeypox outbreak presented with genital and peri-anal lesions, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and pain when swallowing.

• Rashes are also the part of symptoms.

To cure from this disease and to protect yourself from the virus,smallpox vaccine can also be used. Newer,vaccine has also been developed which helps in eradication of the virus. Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting from 2 to 4 weeks. Countries like The United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada are offering the vaccine to anyone deemed at high risk of infection. Bavarian Nordic’s product is one of two FDA-approved vaccines for monkeypox.

Stay Healthy and tune for my next blog on latest happening in the world.