11:00 p
Tuesday 24 May 2022
agencies
Reports of an unfamiliar disease infecting more people, called monkeypox, are already taking us back to the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, when the world did not expect the epidemic to cause a tragedy that claimed millions of lives.
So far, about 80 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed, and another 50 cases are under investigation in 11 countries.
But the truth is that monkeypox is fundamentally different from the Corona virus, so our concerns must be addressed: first, it is not a new disease like Corona, but a disease known to the world of science for many years, and secondly – it is transmitted in a different way, according to a report by healthy.walla.
What is monkeypox and how is it transmitted?
Monkeypox is a viral disease that belongs to a family of diseases characterized by the appearance of blisters on the skin. The disease is transmitted between humans by direct contact with a person infected with smallpox, or by droplets of droplets from the airways, and the virus is not transmitted in the air.
Dr. Martin Hirsch of Massachusetts General Hospital told Archyde.com: “The coronavirus is spread by breathing and is highly contagious. This does not appear to be the case with monkeypox.”
For his part, Dr. Erez Gerti of the Davidson Institute, Davidson Institute for Scientific Education, said that “the virus is transmitted through body fluids, especially saliva, in large droplets released in the air.”
Scientists suspect that many of the people diagnosed with monkeypox are men who have sex with the same species, including cases in Spain inside saunas in the Madrid region.
How does the virus affect the body?
“The virus attacks cells of the immune system, and after an incubation period of a few days, blisters appear on the skin, along with a high temperature, chills, headache and other inflammatory symptoms,” Dr. Gertie explains.
Symptoms of the disease are reminiscent of those of smallpox, which became extinct in the late 1970s. However, despite the familial similarities between the two diseases, monkeypox is much less deadly.
“Although there are results indicating a high mortality rate from monkeypox, which can be as high as 10% of the most violent type in Africa, it is difficult to determine its severity in countries with advanced medicine, but it may be much lower.” According to Dr. Gertie.
How do you protect yourself from monkeypox virus?
Monkeypox has been known in the world of science for many years, so it already has a vaccine, although it hasn’t been used in recent years.
“Studies conducted at the end of the last century showed that the smallpox vaccine was also effective against other viruses in the same family, including monkeypox,” Dr. Gertie explains.
In the past, this was one of the routine vaccinations given to children all over the world. Today, the vaccine is no longer given in many countries because it is no longer needed.
However, the protection provided by the vaccine against infection wears off within a few years, so the previously vaccinated populations and those born after the extinction of smallpox are not protected.
In the UK, the vaccination has already begun for healthcare workers who may be at risk while treating patients with the smallpox vaccine.
The United States government has announced that it has sufficient smallpox vaccines in stock in its National Strategic Stockpile (SNS) to vaccinate all of its residents.
In addition, a spokesperson for the US Department of Health said that there are antiviral drugs for smallpox that can also be used to treat monkeypox in certain circumstances.
Of course, the best thing to do is to avoid close contact with someone who has a rash or is sick. People who suspect they have smallpox – of any kind – should self-isolate and seek medical attention.
Is there anything to worry about?
“Currently there is no real cause for concern,” says Dr. Gertie. The number of patients identified so far is very low – only a few dozen patients or suspected patients across Europe and North America. It is likely now that they have started active surveillance for the disease. More cases will be discovered.
He added, “According to one of the hypotheses, the timing of the outbreak is linked to the resumption of global tourism after the removal of Corona restrictions in most countries.”
He stressed that “the symptoms of the disease are very noticeable, especially the pimples that are characterized by it, so unlike diseases such as Corona, it is easy to identify and isolate the person who contracted the disease.”
However, he warned that “the fact that patients are discovered in several countries at the same time may indicate, in a very pessimistic scenario, a change in the virus and an improvement in its ability to transmit from one person to another, so that there is a risk of infection between humans and latent morbidity in the population.”