What is monkeypox?
Here’s what you need to know about the mysterious disease.
The United Kingdom has been struck with a rare viral infection called monkey pox. Here’s what you need to know about the mysterious disease.
Monkey pox – is a viral infection similar to smallpox involving a mix of symptoms, including fever, headaches, backaches muscle, aches, chills, exhaustion and Swollen lymph nodes. A rash can erupt on the skin and spread all over the body, but is usually mostly concentrated on the face before a scab is formed and eventually falls off.
The monkey pox virus usually causes mild illness in patients. Symptoms can appear between 5 to 21 days after infection, and the virus can last for 2-4 weeks the infection can spread when someone makes contact with an infected person or with something they have touched and Contaminated. However, the risk of transmission to the general population is very low.
The virus mostly affects a younger age group and up to 10 percent of people with monkey pox may die. monkey pox primarily originates in the tropical rainforests of central and west african countries, and it is mainly spread through wild animals.
The world health organization says that the natural reservoir of monkey pox has not Yet been identified, but the virus mostly transmits from rodents and primates. The infection was first discovered in 1958, after a pox-like disease outbreak occurred in monkeys used for research. The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in the democratic republic of the congo in 1970.
The most recent monkey pox case was confirmed in england on may 7th, with two new cases emerging since then.
According to the health Security agency. Currently there is no specific treatment for monkey pox. Although a new vaccinia based vaccine was approved for the prevention of smallpox and monkeypox in 2019, it is not yet widely available to the public.