Monkeypox has raised alarm worldwide after an unprecedented surge this year in countries where the virus has not previously been reported. With a large number of cases reported among gay men, concerns about discrimination have also been raised. There are even calls to change the name of the disease.
Monkeypox disease, according to the World Health Organization, is “transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus.” Symptoms – which include fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes – usually last between two to four weeks.
Although the virus has been known since 1958, until the first human case came to the fore in 1970, a study published in the British Medical Journal last week, however, pointed to the researchers’ observations as suggesting a “new clinical course of the disease”.
The study was conducted among 197 participants, 196 of whom were gay men or those who have sex with men.
Rectal pain and penile edema (painless, nontender swelling of the penis) are among the new clinical manifestations identified.
“A variable temporal relationship between the mucocutaneous and systemic features is observed, suggesting a new clinical course of the disease. New clinical manifestations of monkeypox infection, including rectal pain and penile edema, have been identified. These presentations should be included in public health messages to support early diagnosis and reduce further transmission,” the researchers said in their conclusion.
Monkeypox is caused by an orthopoxvirus that rarely causes disease in humans, the journal said, adding that the first reports of infected humans were recorded in 1970, when a smallpox-like disease was investigated in areas of Democratic Republic of the Congo. to be free of smallpox.
Last week, the WHO declared a global public health emergency. However, experts constantly emphasize that there is no room for panic.
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