Monkeypox | About 80 cases of virus found in 11 countries and regions in just half a month? How high is the fatality rate?

The World Health Organization (WHO) held a technical advisory group meeting on the 20th to discuss information and response strategies related to monkeypox.

There are currently about 80 confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide, with 50 more to be confirmed.

As the scope of surveillance expands, more cases may be discovered in the future, causing this originally rare disease to once again draw attention to the outside world.

The WHO notes that monkeypox is generally endemic in certain animal populations in some countries, occasionally infecting locals and travelers.

But there have been 11 cases of monkeypox in 11 countries and territories, which is atypical because it occurs in countries that are not endemic for monkeypox.

Microscope photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2003, with monkeypox virus on the left.

(AP)

What is monkeypox?

Monkeypox and smallpox belong to the same genus of orthopoxviruses, which were first identified in monkeys, mainly infect primates, and can be spread by rodents, such as squirrels.

Humans are occasionally infected.

The first human infection occurred in the Congo in the 1970s.

However, the symptoms of monkeypox are milder than those of smallpox.

Patients experience typical cold symptoms with swollen lymph nodes and smallpox-like herpes on the body.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says its symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches and fatigue. Monkeypox can also cause lymphadenopathy, which smallpox generally does not cause.

This is also one of the ways to tell the difference between the two.

How deadly is monkeypox?

There is mainly one strain of monkeypox virus.

One is the Congolese strain, which causes more severe disease with a mortality rate of up to 10 percent.

The other, the West African strain, has a much lower fatality rate of 1%.

The herpes will then scab over as the condition improves, leaving scars.

Patients generally improve within 4 to 6 weeks, and the fatality rate is about 10%, compared with about 30% for smallpox.

Photos released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1971 show monkeypox on the hands and legs of a girl in Liberia.

(Getty Images)

Is there a cure for monkeypox?

At present, there is no specific drug for monkeypox, and adjuvant therapy can reduce the discomfort of the patient, and it will recover naturally after the body's immune system responds to defeat the virus.

However, since monkeypox and smallpox belong to the same orthopox virus, the use of smallpox vaccine can effectively prevent monkeypox infection.

At the same time, due to the weak human-to-human transmission ability of monkeypox, isolation and quarantine can effectively control the outbreak.

Therefore, past monkeypox infections were limited to a small area and did not cause large-scale infections.

How monkeypox spreads

Monkeypox is a rare condition that occurs only in the rainforests of Central or West Africa.

It also occasionally spreads to other places via local travelers.

In 2021, for example, a family in the UK contracted monkeypox after a trip to Nigeria; the same year an American contracted monkeypox after a trip to Nigeria.

How this round of cases in Europe and the United States were infected is not yet known.

Monkeypox is a zoonotic infectious disease that spreads in many ways, such as being bitten by infected wild animals, coming into contact with blood, body fluids or wound scabs, and even eating infected wild animals.

In terms of human-to-human transmission, it is mainly transmitted through close contact.

The risk of infection is higher when a person is in close contact with an infected person.

High-risk groups include health workers, family members and sexual partners.

Its transmission routes include respiratory droplets, open sores, contact with bodily fluids, contact or sharing of infected clothing, sheets and other objects.

In this round of infection, experts also say the virus can be transmitted through sexual activity.

The picture shows the morphology of monkeypox virus under an electron microscope in 2003.

(AP)

Is this round unusual?

Since monkeypox generally only occurs in local areas, cases in Europe and the United States generally come from travelers, and there are only a few cases.

The first UK case in this round was confirmed on May 7, and the patient returned to the UK from Nigeria.

Nigeria is where monkeypox spreads

As of the 18th, there have been 36 suspected cases in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain, with 8 in England and 20 in Portugal.

Except for the first patient who returned to the UK from Nigeria, the remaining seven patients in the UK have never travelled abroad.

British patients who returned from Nigeria passed the virus to some patients through sexual contact, but some patients have no clear source of infection, and experts worry that the virus has spread in the community.

The UK Health Agency (UKHSA) said in a statement that the outbreak is rare and unusual and that the source of the infection will be closely investigated.

Monkeypox: The picture shows a 1997 photo provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a monkeypox patient with lesions on his right arm and body.

(AP)

Has invaded more places?

In just half a month, the infected people are not limited to those who have traveled to Africa, which makes people worry that it has developed or is about to develop into community transmission in some countries or regions.

A patient infected with monkeypox in Bavaria, Germany, is the first confirmed case of monkeypox in Germany, the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology in Munich, Germany, said on the 20th.

The 26-year-old Brazilian arrived in Germany from Portugal via Spain, visited Düsseldorf and Frankfurt, and stopped in the Bavarian state capital Munich for about a week.

France also recorded a case in the Ile-de-France (Paris region).

The patient is a 29-year-old man.

French health authorities said he had not recently traveled to a country where the virus was spreading.

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