Headline8 Things To Know About Monkeypox

8 Things To Know About Monkeypox

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Following the outbreak of a deadly viral epidemic known as “monkeypox” in Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria, here are 8 things to know about the disease.

  1. Monkeypox, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae, is a rare viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals). It is is a rare disease that occurs primarily in remote parts of Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests. It can cause fatal illness in humans and, although it is similar to human smallpox which has been eradicated, it is much milder. Two distinct types of the virus have been identified. They are: the Congo Basin, and the West African clades – which is found to be more virulent.
  1. The virus was first identified in the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1958 during an investigation into a pox-like disease among monkeys. Human monkeypox was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a 9 year old boy. Other cases have been reported in rural, rainforest regions of the Congo Basin and western Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The first reported occurrence of the disease outside of the African continent was in the spring of 2003, as monkeypox cases were confirmed in the Midwest of the United States of America as most of the patients had had close contact with pet prairie dogs.
  1. The monkeypox virus is transmitted to people from various wild animals. Monkeypox is usually transmitted to humans from rodents, pets, and primates through contact with the animal’s blood or through a bite. Infection results from direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or lesions of infected animals. In Africa human infections have been documented through the handling of infected monkeys, Gambian giant rats and squirrels, rope squirrels, tree squirrels, Gambian rats, striped mice, dormice and primates with rodents being the major reservoir of the virus.
  1. Although, it has limited secondary spread through human-to-human transmission, transmission can however, result from close contact with infected respiratory tract secretions, skin lesions of an infected person or objects recently contaminated by patient fluids or lesion materials. Transmission also occurs primarily via droplet respiratory particles usually requiring prolonged face-to-face contact, which puts household members of active cases at greater risk of infection.
  1. Typically, case fatality in monkeypox outbreaks has been between 1% and 10% in documented events, mostly among young children. In general, younger age-groups appear to be more susceptible to monkeypox.
  1. There are no specific treatments or vaccines available for monkeypox infection, but outbreaks can be controlled. Although prior vaccination against smallpox has been proven to be 85% effective in preventing monkeypox in the past but the vaccine is no longer available to the general public after it was discontinued following global smallpox eradication.
  1. Efforts to prevent transmission in endemic regions should focus on thoroughly cooking all animal products (blood, meat) before eating because eating inadequately cooked meat of infected animals is a possible risk factor. Gloves and other appropriate protective clothing should be worn while handling sick animals or their infected tissues, and during slaughtering procedures.

Potentially infected animals should be isolated from other animals and placed into immediate quarantine. Any animals that might have come into contact with an infected animal should be quarantined, handled with standard precautions and observed for monkeypox symptoms for 30 days.

In humans, close contact with other patients is the most significant risk factor for monkeypox virus infection. The virus can spread from human to human by both respiratory (airborne) contact and contact with infected person’s bodily fluids. Risk factors for transmission include sharing a bed, room, or using the same utensils as an infected patient. Increased transmission risk associated with factors involving introduction of virus to the oral mucosa.

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Close physical contact with monkeypox infected people should be avoided. Gloves and protective equipment should be worn when taking care of ill people. Regular hand washing should be carried out after caring for or visiting sick people.

  1. Signs and symptoms includes fever, intense headache, lymphadenopathy (swelling of the lymph node), back pain, myalgia (muscle ache) and an intense asthenia (lack of energy); – during the invasion period (0-5 days after transmission).

Followed by the skin eruption period (within 1-3 days after appearance of fever) where the various stages of the rash appears, often beginning on the face and then spreading elsewhere on the body. The face (in 95% of cases), and palms of the hands and soles of the feet (75%) are most affected.

Monkeypox can only be diagnosed definitively in the laboratory where the virus can be identified by a number of different tests. However, the differential diagnoses that must be considered include other rash illnesses, such as, smallpox, chickenpox, measles, bacterial skin infections, scabies, syphilis, and medication-associated allergies but Lymphadenopathy during the prodromal stage of illness can be a clinical feature to distinguish it from smallpox.

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