UPDATE (Friday, July 22, 2022/6.30 p.m. MYT): 14,000 monkeypox cases have been recorded in 70 countries. This has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to reconvene a second time to decide if they should declare a global health emergency. The last time WHO's expert monkeypox committee met was on June 23, 2022. During that meet, the organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that it was not necessary to sound the alarms as the cases did not meet the threshold required. Fast forward a month later, cases are rising in West and Central African nations. Current monkeypox death toll: 73.
Read the updated story here.
Read the original story below.
As if COVID-19 and a mysterious child hepatitis outbreak aren't enough diseases for you, here's another one: Monkeypox. And let's just say, its spread across countries where the virus isn't even endemic is starting to worry health officials across the world.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it's been presented as a 'moderate' risk to global public health. But it could get worse if the virus becomes a human pathogen.
No reported fatalities.. yet.
IMAGE: Science Photo Library / New Scientist
When looking at WHO member states, 23 nations have already reported a total of 257 confirmed cases of the virus, as well as 120 suspected cases. These statistics are accurate as of May 26, 2022.
While there aren't any reported fatalities as of yet, the spread of the virus has health authorities scrambling to contain its movement. For now, officials believe that monkeypox somehow appeared in several non-endemic countries at the same time solely due to the possibility that it may have been spreading for quite some time, completely undetected.
"The public health risk could become high if this virus exploits the opportunity to establish itself as a human pathogen and spreads to groups at higher risk of severe disease such as young children and immunosuppressed persons," the WHO said.
But much like the early stages of COVID-19, the WHO expects monkeypox cases to rise as countries become more aware of its presence and beef up surveillance as a result.
What is monkeypox?
IMAGE: Reuters / Insider
According to the WHO, monkeypox is a viral zoonosis, which means it gets transmitted to humans from animals. Symptoms of the disease are very similar to those previously seen in smallpox patients, but clinically less severe.
Despite being a virus transmitted from animals, monkeypox can easily spread from one human to another, especially when there's close contact with lesions, bodily fluids, respiratory droplets, and contaminated materials (like bedding). Similar to COVID-19, the incubation period for monkeypox ranges from six to 13 days, but can also take between five and 21 days.
Some (sort of) good news: Monkeypox isn't deadly for the most part, but it depends on who contracts it. Children, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to severe infection.
"Countries should be on the alert for signals related to patients presenting with an atypical rash that progresses in sequential stages – macules, papules, vesicles, pustules, scabs, at the same stage of development over all affected areas of the body – that may be associated with fever, enlarged lymph nodes, back pain, and muscle aches," the WHO warned.
As international tourism resumes, it wouldn't be too surprising if your country detects a case of monkeypox, especially among arrivals from Europe and Africa.
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