Outline
What is it?
Monkeypox is a disease which is caused by the Monkeypox virus. It originates from the Orthopoxvirus genus which also comprises other familiar diseases such as smallpox. In fact, Monkeypox is similar to smallpox in terms of symptoms. The symptoms in Monkeypox are “milder” as the CDC reported.
Learn more about Smallpox from our writer Brahmjot Singh, here!
Symptoms
There are many symptoms outlined by the National Institute of Health (NIH) such as fever, headache, body aches, fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes, and rashes on the skin.
Is this a new thing? Should I be worried?
No, it was discovered in 1958 in “two outbreaks of a pox-like disease among colonies of research monkeys.” Later, it affected many residents of the Democratic Republic of Congo. As of July 20 (2022), this disease has killed 5 people out of 14,000 infected individuals worldwide. So, the chances of you dying from it are 0.035%.
How did it spread?
There are many ways it could spread to different locations. According to the NIH, “contact with another person through bodily fluids, prolonged face-to-face contact, lesions, and indirect contact with contaminated clothing and bedding.” Another way of transmission is through animals. For example, when you are bitten by an animal, indirectly have contact with the animal's bodily fluids, or while “preparing for a wild game.”
Why is it so controversial?
We’ve all been panicked by the media, and our surroundings, but why? Monkeypox is known as a category A pathogen. Pathogens are any virus, bacterium, or a microorganism which can cause diseases. Since we have so many pathogens and bacterias in our nature, scientists classify each of them in alphabetical categories. With ‘A’ being the highest risk it poses, and the ‘Z’ classified with the lowest risk to humanity. Another example is Salmonella, which is classified as category B and is very dangerous. So how does category A pose a risk? Monkeypox can be easily transmitted from direct or indirect contact. In addition, it has a case fatality rate from 1 to 11%. How do we know this data? According to Brittanica, this is calculated from dividing no. of deaths from specific disease over a specific period of time by the number of people diagnosed with this disease. This gives us a ratio, and then further multiplied with 100 to result in a percentage.
It can be severe in pregnant women, kids, people with suppressed/weakened immune systems.
How are public health officials helping us?
Don’t worry, you are in good hands. Public health officials from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are tracing this disease, researching to understand the dissemination, and ecologists are pursuing studies to better understand how it spreaded through the environment in Democratic Republic of Congo. For treatment, they are testing new vaccines and compounds. They are currently in the process of establishing a large clinical testing of tecovirimat (TPOXX) and brincidofovir (Tembexa). As Smallpox was eradicated in 1972 (in the US), Smallpox vaccine manufacturing came to a halt. There’s also Jynneos medication certified by the FDA which is known to treat both smallpox and Monkeypox.
Why can’t we use mRNA to create the Monkeypox vaccine?
Who said we can’t? Moderna has started researching on how it can develop Monkeypox vaccines from its mRNA technology. There’s still a lack of supply of Monkeypox vaccines, and cases are exponentially increasing!
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