Monkeypox outbreak: What to know.
- Since early May 2022, an increasing number of monkeypox cases have been identified in more than 20 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
- As a viral disease native to Africa, symptoms of monkeypox include skin lesions, fever, and body aches.
- Some recent cases of monkeypox have involved men who have had sex with men, however, experts say the disease is not a sexually transmitted infection but can spread via direct contact during sex.
- The World Health Organization said it is unlikely the outbreak will turn into a global pandemic, but warned that quick measures are crucial to stop the spread.
This is a developing story. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.
On the heels of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a zoonotic virus seems to be spreading across the globe.
Since early May,
In the U.K., nearly 200 monkeypox cases have been confirmed since May 7. During a press conference on
Recently, Canada and the U.S. joined these nations in tracking and tracing the virus.
As of May 19, Canada confirmed two monkeypox cases and said it was investigating more than a dozen suspected cases. The Massachusetts Department of Health also announced a single case in an individual who had recently been in Canada. Several of the Canadian cases have been linked to this person.
On May 18, Scott Pauley, press officer at the
“The U.K. notified the U.S. of 8 people in the U.S. who might have been seated near the U.K. traveler when they flew from Nigeria to London [on May 3-4, 2022]. Of these, one is no longer in the U.S., and one was not a contact. The remaining six are being monitored by their respective state health departments. None of these six travel contacts have monkeypox symptoms and their risk of infection is very low.”
The WHO officials have been tracking monkeypox’s path through Europe and North America for several weeks. However, with the data available so far, they do not know long the virus has been spreading.
On May 30, the agency said during a
Monkeypox is a zoonotic virus, which transmits disease from animals to humans. Cases typically occur near tropical rainforests, where animals that carry the virus live.
The monkeypox virus is a member of the orthopoxvirus family. It also has two distinct genetic strains or
Monkeypox naturally occurs in Africa, especially in west and central African nations. Cases in the U.S. are rare and associated with international travel from places where the disease is more common.
Monkeypox
The time from infection to the onset of symptoms, which is referred to as the incubation period, can range from five to 21 days. The illness typically resolves within two to four weeks.
Severe cases are more common among people with underlying immune deficiencies and young children. In recent times, the case
Transmission of the monkeypox virus among humans is limited, but it can happen through close skin contact, air droplets, bodily fluids, and virus-contaminated objects.
Most of the recent cases of monkeypox in the U.K. and Canada have been reported among attendees of sexual health services at health clinics in men who have sex with men.
Regarding this trend, Dr. I. Socé Fall, the regional emergencies director for the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, cautioned:
“This is new information we need to investigate properly to understand better the dynamic of local transmission in the U.K. and some other countries.”
During a press conference on May 17, Dr. Fall acknowledged that public health officials still have much to learn about the monkeypox virus.
“But the most important thing is we really need to invest in understanding the development of monkeypox because we have so many unknowns in terms of the dynamics of transmission, the clinical features, the epidemiology. In terms of therapeutics and diagnostics also, we still have important gaps,” he said.
WHO experts believe that solutions for monkeypox calls must go beyond addressing the disease.
During the press conference,
For more insight, Medical News Today spoke with Dr. Kartik Cherabuddi, clinical associate professor in infectious diseases and director of the Global Medicine and Antimicrobial Management Program at the University of Florida.
“Being aware of the rash of monkeypox which presents as vesicles is very important. Additional measures include vigilance in those who have traveled in the past 30 days to countries that have reported cases of monkeypox [and] who have contact with a person who is confirmed or suspected of monkeypox.”
— Dr. Kartik Cherabuddi
Dr. Cherabuddi mentioned that smallpox vaccinations offer some protection against monkeypox. He said the Democratic Republic of Congo is currently employing
The U.K. is also using ring vaccination, in addition to contact and source tracing, case searching, and local rash-illness surveillance, he added.
Smallpox and monkeypox vaccines
Dr. Cherabuddi believes that more cases will arise in the U.S., but it’s difficult to predict how many.
He said he was concerned that with fewer people in the U.S. having had smallpox vaccinations, this could be putting “a majority of the population below the age of 40-50 years at risk for infection[…]”
Dr. Ryan also noted that preventing the disease may not entirely rest on vaccines. He pointed out that “the protection offered by previous smallpox vaccination also has reduced[…]”
He said there might be a need to change agricultural, social, and food storage practices to prevent further outbreaks. Officials hope to help communities understand how the virus spreads so they can address it at its sources.
Dr. Cherabuddi told MNT that vaccines for monkeypox have also been approved for limited circulation.
“An approved vaccine for monkeypox—MVA-BN—is not widely available. Tecovirimat (TPOXX), as both oral and IV medication is approved in the U.S. for treating smallpox and oral form in Europe to treat cowpox, monkeypox, and smallpox. The FDA also approved brincidofovir (Tembexa) in 2021 to treat smallpox. These medications are not widely available,” he said.
History, cause, and treatment of smallpox.
Many people with smallpox recovered, but the mortality rate was high. About
Smallpox no longer affects humans because a smallpox vaccine became available. The smallpox vaccine was the first successful vaccine that doctors ever developed, and it represented a significant advancement for modern medicine.
In this article, we look at what smallpox was and who it affected. We also look at the symptoms and treatment of smallpox and explain whether it could come back.
Smallpox was a serious contagious disease that affected humans until the late 20th century. Experts do not know where it originated, but — based on the presence of smallpox-like rashes on some ancient Egyptian mummies — they estimate that it existed for about
The variola virus caused smallpox. This virus is a member of the orthopoxvirus family, which also includes cowpox and monkeypox. Historians believe that the first written description of smallpox comes from 4th century China.
Human activities allowed the variola virus to spread to different countries and regions over the centuries. Trade gave it the opportunity to spread to Korea and Japan by the 6th century, while the growth of empires meant that it spread through the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, and Portugal.
The wars known as the Crusades brought smallpox to northern Europe in the 11th century. Colonialism and the slave trade then transported smallpox from Portugal to western Africa, and then across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, North America, and South America. Here, it decimated the populations of Indigenous peoples.
Smallpox was an epidemic, which means that it was a disease that spread quickly over a large geographical area. It was one of the most devastating diseases known to humans.
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