Monkeypox

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Context (WHO): The WHO Director-General declared the Monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

Monkeypox is a rare viral infection caused by the monkeypox virus.
Mpox is a zoonotic infection (infections that spread from animals).
First discovered in 1958, Monkeypox occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and west Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.
Common symptoms: Fever, muscle ache, rash and swollen lymph nodes, pus filled skin lesions. It may lead to a range of medical complications, causing even death (3-6% cases).
- Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting from 2 to 4 weeks.
- It is less contagious than smallpox and causes less severe illness.
Higher risk group: Pregnant ladies, children and low immunity persons.

Transmission

From animal to humans: Eating products made of infected animals, direct contact with body fluids.
Person to person: Direct contact with rashes or body fluids, infectious skin or lesions, kissing, touching, oral and penetrative vaginal or anal sex.

Clade I is largely sporadic and potentially zoonotic with a fatality rate of less than 4%.
Clade I leads to more severe disease and death than Clade II.

It was first reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2023 and has been spreading through sex and other types of close contact.
Children under 15 years is the most affected, constituting 80% of all the deaths with the largest case fatality rate in children aged less than one year.
It caused unprecedented human-to-human transmission in a short period.

Clade II was behind the global mpox outbreak in 2022 and is primarily found in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria and surrounding regions.

There is no specific treatment or vaccine available for this infection and is treated with supportive care.
Three smallpox vaccines (MVA-BN, LC16 and OrthopoxVac) have been approved for prevention.
Infected persons or animals should be quarantined for 30 days.
Fatality rate: Varies from 0.1 to 10%.

Monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus (a genus of viruses to which smallpox virus also belongs).
It is common in Central and West Africa and occasionally showed up elsewhere.
The virus has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and monkeys.