Monkey pox

Monkey Pox

• The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the global health emergency for mpox after 10 months.
• WHO declared mpox as a public health emergency of international concern in July 2022 to combat the spread of the disease. 
• The WHO recently also declared an end to the public health emergency status for COVID-19.

Global Health Emergency by WHO

• A global health emergency is a situation that poses a serious threat to public health on an international scale.
• Criteria :
  • The spread is an “Extraordinary Event”;
  • It “Constitutes a Public Health Risk” to other States through the international spread of disease; and 
  • It “potentially requires a coordinated international response”.
• Earlier Examples : COVID-19 pandemic, the West African Ebola outbreak, and the Zika virus outbreak.

Mpox

• It is a viral zoonotic disease (transmission from animals to humans) and is identified as a pox-like disease among monkeys hence it is named Monkeypox. It is endemic to Nigeria.
• It is caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.
• Sources of Monkeypox virus include monkeys and apes, a variety of rodents (including rats, mice, squirrels and prairie dogs) and rabbits.
• It was first reported in 1958, in monkeys in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in humans in 1970, also in the DRC.
• In 2017, Nigeria experienced the largest documented outbreak, 40 years after the last confirmed case.
• Subsequently, the disease has been reported in many West and Central African countries.
• Symptoms :
  • Infected people break out in a rash that looks a lot like chicken pox. But the fever, malaise, and headache from Monkeypox are usually more severe than in chicken pox infection.
  • In the early stage of the disease, Monkeypox can be distinguished from smallpox because the lymph gland gets enlarged.
• Transmission :
  • Primary infection is through direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or cutaneous or mucosal lesions of an infected animal. Eating inadequately cooked meat of infected animals is also a risk factor.
  • Human-to-human transmission can result from close contact with infected respiratory tract secretions, skin lesions of an infected person or objects recently contaminated by patient fluids or lesion materials.
  • Transmission can also occur by inoculation or via the placenta (congenital monkeypox).
• There is no specific treatment or vaccine available for Monkey pox infection. In the past, the anti-smallpox vaccine (Imvanex) was shown to be 85% effective in preventing Monkey pox. 
  
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Practice Questions for Prelims

Which of the following diseases are caused by poxviruses in humans?
1. Monkey pox
2. Cow pox
3. Molluscum contagiosum
4. Small pox

Choose the correct code.
a) 1 and 2 only
b) 1, 2 and 3 only
c) 1 only
d) All of the above

Ans. b)

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