Health authorities across a number of countries are dealing with small outbreaks of monkeypox. But what is monkeypox and how bad a disease is it?
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WHAT IS MONKEYPOX?
*Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, which is a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the Poxviridae virus family.
*It is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of Central and West Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
*Monkeypox typically presents clinically with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications.
*Symptoms usually last from two to four weeks. Severe cases can occur. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 3-6 per cent.
*The clinical presentation of monkeypox resembles that of smallpox but monkeypox is less contagious than smallpox and causes less severe illness.
HOW IS IT SPREAD?
*Monkeypox is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus.
*It transmits from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding.
*Most human infections come from animal-to-human transmission, including unprotected contact with wild animals, especially those that are sick or dead.
WHERE DID IT ORIGINATE?
*Human monkeypox was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a 9-year-old boy.
*Since 1970, most cases have been reported from rural, rainforest regions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
* Monkeypox is considered a disease of global public health importance as it affects not just countries in West and Central Africa, but also the rest of the world,
DOES MONKEYPOX COME FROM MONKEYS?
* No, rope squirrels, tree squirrels, Gambian pouched rats, dormice, non-human primates and other species have all been identified as susceptible to monkeypox.
Source: World Health Organisation
(Source: WHO)
Australian Associated Press
