since the monkeypox epidemic has become widespread, I outline the situation + a little materiel. So, today the disease has been detected in more than 22,000 people in 81 countries. 11 patients died, 5 of them outside of Africa. In the described cases, the deceased had serious concomitant diseases, therefore, we can say that the infection is not severe and is characterized by low mortality.
Why the fuss? First, for the first time human-to-human transmission has been recorded for this classic zoonosis (maximum described chain = 6 infections). Secondly, the memory of smallpox is still fresh, which for centuries was one of the leading mechanisms of natural selection in people (even 100 years ago, every 8th child died from it in Russia). Third, strain the pace of epidemic growth.
A rash (pockmark) goes through a series of stages (papule, vesicle, sore, crust, scar). The phasing of characteristic rashes can be clearly seen on the face of this American student.
In general, the topic is by no means new and imported outbreaks are noted regularly. Yes, in 2003 major outbreak in the western United States, covering 71 people, began with Wisconsin, where they were brought from Ghana as exotic pets Gambian hamster ratsand those, in turn, re-infected those held together with them prairie dogs – popular domestic rodents in America.
As a rule, rodents, and not monkeys at all, become the source of imported outbreaks. Pictured is a Gambian hamster rat.
This year’s virus was imported from Nigeria. The first patient was identified on May 6 in the UK, and already on May 20 monkeypox clusters were reported in Spain and Portugal. Over 95% of patients were men who had sex with mensource). Spain – a gay mecca with many corresponding clubs and saunas, where young people are in close and long contact with each other’s skin and mucous membranes, so a large cluster formed there, and then the infection spread all over the world. However, there is no need to stigmatize people with a homosexual orientation, since everyone can get infected in the same way, it’s just that many gays are prone to multiple relationships with random partners who they meet in mobile applications or in gay clubs, while sexual contact is not at all necessary – it is enough to dance, rubbing half-naked bodies at a rave or walking barefoot in a sauna. As the epidemic develops, the infection will move from risk groups to the general population, affecting mainly children.
So, monkeypox is a viral disease related to smallpox, eradicated in 1980 by a planetary vaccination carried out by the friendly forces of Russian and American epidemiologists. In Russia, vaccination was stopped by region from 1973 to 1980, so I, a Khabarovsk citizen born in 1974, was not vaccinated, which is a pity, because the smallpox vaccine works for life and is effective against monkeypox by about 85%.
Here is such an idol-amulet from a natural one brought from a Senegalese village by my microbiologist friend. He stood at the entrance to the village. The figurine is covered with pockmarks and holds the kids.
The disease was described in 1958 in monkeys (hence the name). In nature, monkeypox occurs in the Gambian hamster rat, African squirrels, dormice, various species of monkeys, and in many other mammals, from which the virus jumps to humans from time to time.
Natural foci – Western and Central (Congo) Africa. The epidemic of 2022 is the West African clade (Nigeria), characterized by low pathogenicity, in contrast to the Central African clade with a mortality rate of up to 10%.
Transmission routes:
- Close skin or mucous contact; often during intercourse, but not necessarily. Therefore, monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
- Rarely airborne if the rash is localized in the oral cavity.
- Very rarely transplacental from mother to fetus.
Children are especially susceptible to infections. Classic monkeypox vesicles in a Nigerian child:
Most affected adults have significantly fewer rashes, up to 10 elements:
Suspicious cases are identified and managed as follows:
Human-to-human transmission is limited, so the WHO considers that the infection does not have pandemic potential and mass vaccination is not required.
Monkeypox is treated mainly symptomatically (antipyretic, painkillers). In the US, just in case, they recently developed and registered an antiviral drug They are current, which is now also given to immunocompromised monkeypox patients (effectiveness is not yet very clear). This drug is not yet available for Russians, so I expect another bullshit therapy with arbidol-like bullshit.
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