Monkeypox Updates: Experts Say Virus 'Doesn't Spread as Rapidly as Covid' But Suspected Cases Keep UP, Bihar, Jharkhand on Toes

Monkeypox Updates: Despite health experts insisting that monkeypox isn’t a disease that spreads as rapidly as Covid-19, a scare has been looming among people in India with four confirmed infections and many suspected cases keeping state authorities on toes. On Tuesday, a suspected case was reported in Jharkhand’s Garhwa after a seven-year-old girl showed symptoms, similarly in Bihar a 45-year-old beautician complained of symptoms. Patna civil surgeon Dr KK Rai said that a team of virology department of the Patna Medical College and Hospital has collected the sample, and will be sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune. A suspected case of the monkeypox virus was also found in Aurraiya district in Uttar Pradesh. In all these cases, none of the patients have a travel history.

The 34-year-old man, who became India’s fourth confirmed case of monkeypox, also did not have a history of foreign travel. However, the infected person had attended a stag party recently in Manali, Himachal Pradesh. The patient had lesions on the skin and a high fever similar to the symptoms for this virus. The other three cases have been reported from Kerala, and they all had returned from an international destination.

What is Monkeypox?

According to WHO, monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals), with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health.

On July 23, the World Health Organisation (WHO) sounded its highest level of alert for monkeypox and declared the virus as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), after more than 16,000 cases and five deaths were reported from 75 countries. The global health body also called on nations to work closely with communities of men who have sex with men and adopt measures that protect the health, human rights, and dignity of affected communities.

“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria in the International Health Regulations. For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Symptoms of Monkeypox

According to the WHO, monkeypox is not as contagious as smallpox and does not cause severe illness. The incubation period of the virus or the period from the infection to the onset of symptoms is from 6 to 13 days. However, it can sometimes range between 5 and 21 days.

A person infected with the virus can experience fever, intense headache, back pain, myalgia (muscle aches), intense asthenia (lack of energy) and lymphadenopathy or swelling of the lymph nodes. These symptoms can last up to five days.

The skin eruption occurs usually after one to three days of the appearance of fever. The rashes appear more on the face and extremities of the body. In 95 per cent of monkeypox cases, the rashes affect the face while in 75 per cent of cases, it affects the palms of the hand and soles of the feet.

The rash can develop from macules or lesions with a flat base to papules or slightly raised firm lesions. It then evolves into vesicles or lesions with clear fluid and subsequently into pustules or lesions filled with yellowish fluid. The rash finally dries up and falls off.

Here are Other Monkeypox-related Updates

• The United States has recorded more than 3,400 confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases, making it the country with the most known infections since the outbreak began. A massive surge in cases has prompted United States President Joe Biden to declare monkeypox a national health emergency, BBC reported. The country also holds the grim record of registering the highest number of coronavirus cases worldwide since the start of the pandemic (9,05,67,290).

• The outbreak of Monkeypox has been a “wake-up call”, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation, Soumya Swaminathan was quoted as saying by NDTV. “This Monkeypox outbreak has been a wake-up call for us, because we need to prepare ourselves for deadly outbreaks all the time,” she said.

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