Some health authorities from North America, Spain, Europe, Spain, Portugal, and Canada have detected several suspected and confirmed cases of ‘monkeypox’ earlier this month of May, sparking concerns that the disease was originally endemic in parts of Africa and is now spreading fast, leaving others to fear that this might also end up as a pandemic, just like the deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that has been taking lives for the past 2 years now.
Origin
Monkeypox, known as an extremely rare disease, a “cousin” to smallpox, was primarily seen in 1958 when about two outbreaks of the pox-like disease were found in colonies of monkeys that were kept for research.
Its first human-related case was also identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a 9-year-old boy. Since then, most cases of the virus have been reported from rural, rainforest regions of the Congo Basin, followed by the same cases across Central and West Africa.
However, called a close relative to smallpox, monkeypox is reported to be less deadly and less transmissible.
After decades, it has then again made its way to the United States after being reported that a case of it was detected last Wednesday, in a patient hospitalized in Massachusetts who had recently traveled to Canada.
The virus was declared to be found in West and Central Africa, but succeeding cases were also seen in Europe.
It was first discovered in laboratory monkeys in 1958, but such wild animals have eventually learned that the potential curator of the said virus is rodents. The monkeypox has then transmitted to humans, but such infections–fever and rash–have become more common in the succeeding decades.
Based on the director of John Hopkins Center for Health Security, Thomas Inglesby, although there are chances that the virus may make it to other continents, such outbreaks “are so small and maybe measured in single digits”, but today’s rising numbers say otherwise.
Last 2021, there were 2 reported cases of individuals from Nigeria who have independently carried to the U.S but have been ruled out that did not infect any other person.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the monkeypox is typically linked to international travel or from imported animals infected with the said virus.
Transmission
– Animal-to-human – occurs from any direct contact with the blood, sweat, saliva, and mucosal lesions, of any monkeypox-infected animals.
– Human-to-human – the same as how an animal may transmit the virus to humans; transmission from human-to-human may come from droplets, skin lesions, or the use of shared contaminated objects, or any close physical contact is considered a well-known risk for virus transmission.
Just like the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the incubation period or the interval of how the infection translates to the onset of symptoms is usually 6-13 days, but may also range from 5 to 21 days before detection.
Hosts of monkeypox virus
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that some animal species–rope squirrels, tree squirrels, Gambian-pouched rats, dormice, and non-human primates–were susceptible to the virus.
Flu-like symptoms
The monkeypox starts with flu-like symptoms; fever, muscle ache, swollen lymph nodes, and will result in a chickenpox-like rash all over the body. It is spread through any contact with body fluids, sores, or shared items such as clothing or bedding that has been contaminated with the body fluids of a person with monkeypox.
– Intense lack of energy may also be noticed. The “skin eruption” or the appearance of the inflated red spots on the face of an infected individual usually begins within 1-3 days coinciding with fever.
– The rash tends to be more concentrated on the face and the extremities other than the torso of the person.
The infection may also develop after being exposed to broken skin and respiratory droplets, plus, any skin lesions from a monkeypox-infected individual, even when the wound has healed, its scabs that turns into tiny molecules may be shed as dust, possibly be inhaled by someone, starting the transmission of the virus.
The most recent case came from Canada which is bound to investigate more than a dozen suspected cases of monkeypox, just after Spain and Portugal have detected and confirmed more than 40 cases of the said virus.
World Health Organization (WHO) coordination
Although believed to be not fatal, monkeypox has already infected thousands of people in scattered parts of Central and Western Africa for the past years, and is deemed rare in Europe and North America.
At a WHO press conference on Tuesday about global health issues, Infectious Disease Epidemiologist, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, said that they still have to allocate more time in understanding the extent of the monkeypox in the stated countries for which it was found endemic.
“We really need to better understand the extent of monkeypox in endemic countries… to really understand how much is circulating and the risk that it poses for people who are living there, as well as the risk of exportation,” said Dr. Kerkhove.
Prevention, therapeutics
Although still not known if the monkeypox may potentially be another “pandemic”, the WHO have issued awareness to the public on reducing the likely exposure to the virus. As more scientific studies are now being made to assess the feasibility and appropriateness of vaccination for the prevention and control of monkeypox, already in the way of developing policies to offer vaccines to some laboratory personnel, rapid response teams, and health workers, to combat the spread of the virus.
Infected individuals with the monkeypox will be offered clinical care to alleviate symptoms and manage succeeding complications to avoid any long-term effects. The world health organization (WHO) also suggests everyone drink more fluids and maintain an adequate nutritional status in combating the possible transmission of the rising virus.
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