It is considered monkeypox, which It began to appear in Europe and North America, Rarely, it is endemic in Africa and usually recovers spontaneously.
what is that disease?
Monkeypox is similar to smallpox but is considered to be less serious and less contagious.
Monkeypox is a rare disease that has been known to humans since 1970 and was discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire).
The World Health Organization said that “the discovery of monkeypox foci in May 2022 in many countries where the virus is not endemic without a direct link to travel to endemic areas is unusual.”
Skin mutations on the body of a young man with monkeypox (archive)
Monkeypox is a contagious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans from infected animals, especially rodents. But the virus was discovered for the first time in 1958 among a group of macaque monkeys that were being researched, hence the disease was called monkeypox, as explained by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in France (Inserm).
The incubation period of the virus can usually range from 5 to 21 days, and its symptoms are similar to those of smallpox (fever, headache and muscle aches) during the first five days of infection, but they are usually less severe. Then a rash appears (on the face, the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet), blisters, and then crusts.
Since 1970, human cases of monkeypox have been reported in dozens of African countries.
In the spring of 2003, human cases of this disease were also discovered in the United States, in the first appearance of this epidemic outside the African continent.
monkeypox virus
How does it move?
In the initial cases, infection is caused by Direct contact with blood or body fluids or skin wounds or mucous membranes of infected animals.
In the current cases, secondary transmission – that is, from one person to another – requires close and prolonged contact between two people, and it occurs mainly through saliva or pus from skin infections that form during infection.
Several experts noted that while this virus can be transmitted during sexual activity, it is not a sexually transmitted disease.
How dangerous is it?
People with chickenpox usually recover spontaneously, as has been known so far, and symptoms last for two to three weeks. Severe cases occur more often in children and are related to exposure to the virus, the patient’s medical condition, and the severity of complications.
Skin rashes on the hands of a young man with monkeypox (archive)
The mortality rate from the disease varies from 1% to 10% depending on the mutation (there are currently two mutations of the virus), and these rates are observed in areas where the disease is endemic, in countries with a weak health system.
But proper medical care greatly reduces the risk, and most sufferers recover spontaneously. In the countries where the disease was recently discovered, the cases were mostly mild and no deaths were recorded.
Is there a cure?
There are no cures or vaccines for monkeypox, but the spread of infections can be stopped, the World Health Organization has shown.
Skin rashes on the body of a young man with monkeypox (archive)
In the past, vaccination against smallpox was shown to be 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. It is noteworthy that the first and second generation smallpox vaccines have not been used by the public since 1984, when smallpox was eradicated.
ورُخّص 3rd generation vaccine (A live attenuated vaccine that does not reproduce the virus itself in the human body) has been in Europe since July 2013 and is intended to combat smallpox in adults.
This vaccine also has a marketing authorization in the United States to prevent smallpox and monkeypox.