Monkeypox in India: With the number of monkeypox cases in India rising to four, doctors and health departments across the country have been put on alert. Yesterday, a 31-year-old resident of West Delhi with no recent foreign travel history was diagnosed with monkeypox. This was the fourth confirmed case of the viral disease in India, the first three being reported from Kerala.Also Read – Monkeypox in India: Places where cases have been reported
Monkeypox cases are increasing all over the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also declared the monkeypox epidemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
So far, about 14,533 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported from about 72 countries. Therefore, the epidemic that started in Africa became a global health concern by July 2022. “I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
According to a report published by IndianExpress, PHEC is “declared an emergency that is determined to constitute a public health threat to other states through international spread of the disease and potentially requires a coordinated international response.” Now, as the disease calls for a collective international response, people are comparing it to COVID and how it spreads.
Monkeypox – Signs and Symptoms
Monkeypox is not a novel virus that the world has not seen before, unlike COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it is similar to smallpox. Reportedly, the first case of such skin lesions was reported sometime around the 1970s in Congo, Africa. It was later discovered that the disease was spread through contact between humans and animals.
Headache, back pain, fever, skin lesions, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue are the most common symptoms of the virus that persist for 2-4 weeks. While it has been observed that this poxvirus is rarely fatal, serious complications can develop in immunocompromised people.
Tracing its etymology, it was first found in monkeys and hence the name. Eventually such highly infected animals were commonly found in the tropical forests of African regions.
Monkeypox vaccine
As the disease originates from the same family as the smallpox virus, the orthopoxvirus, it is said that vaccines used for smallpox could potentially be administered for monkeypox as well. More than 2,800 cases have been reported in the US and 2 smallpox vaccines are currently used. Another, Jynneos, was approved in 2019 for people 18 and older.
According to the WHO, “Vaccination against smallpox has been shown by several observational studies to be about 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. Thus, earlier smallpox vaccination may result in milder illness.”
Will it spread like covid?
Doctors believed that monkeypox would not be as contagious as the coronavirus and thus the chances of an outbreak were limited. Speaking to News 18, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief of virology Dr. Nivedita Gupta said.
Monkeypox may not spread like wildfire this year, but vigilance has been heightened across India. The virus will not spread like wildfire as we feared with the coronavirus,” Gupta said, adding, “The virus needs large droplets to spread infection and is therefore not highly contagious”.
People can catch the virus when in close contact with other infected humans or animals. The New York Times published a report on the virus stating that researchers sequencing the monkeypox virus from recent cases have noted several mutations, but it may take some time to understand the role of these mutations. However, many experts believe that monkeypox can be contained. He is the technical lead of WHO on Kovid-19. Van Kerkhove also cited, “Transmission is really taking place through close physical contact, skin-to-skin contact. So it’s quite different from Covid in that sense.”
Over the decades, researchers who have sequenced the monkeypox virus have concluded that there have been many mutations but there is still more to dig into the trenches of its evolution. Experts believe that the disease can be contained because it mostly spreads through close human contact events unlike Covid which can also spread like wildfire due to aerosol particles in the air.
So far, no such mutations or variants have been found that can be considered highly contagious or seriously fatal. Therefore, people should take all appropriate precautions to protect themselves against the virus, even if it is not as deadly as the coronavirus.
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