More and more questions are being raised about the typical symptoms of monkeypox as health officials investigate a global increase in the virus, which is rare outside of Africa.
Why it matters: Many cases of the growing smallpox epidemic have been found in people without connections to travel to places where it usually circulates. Healthcare professionals have so far found cases in much of Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia.
What they say: President Biden said Sunday that the recent spread of monkeypox in at least 12 countries is “something everyone should be concerned about.”
- “This is a concern, because if it spreads, it will be afterwards,” Biden told reporters at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea, where he met with troops before heading to Japan for the next leg of his trip to Asia.
- But Daniel Bausch, an infectious disease expert and president of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, told Axios last week: “I don’t think there’s any reason to panic. I don’t think we will have tens of thousands of cases. “
According to the CDC, the disease begins with the following symptoms:
- Fever
- headache
- Muscle pain
- Back pain
- Swollen lymph nodes (also called lymphadenopathy)
- chills
- Exhaustion
Note: Within one to three days after a fever, patients usually develop a rash that often begins on the face and then spreads to other parts of the body, the CDC said.
- “There is no specific treatment for monkeypox infection, although antiviral drugs designed for use in patients with smallpox may be helpful,” the CDC said.
Details: Monkeypox, which can be transmitted by droplets and in close contact with infected skin lesions or contaminated materials, is usually incubated in humans for 5 to 13 days before symptoms appear.
- Transmission can come from animals or human-to-human contact, but “it is generally documented in very close contacts. So family members, people caring for sick patients. Or health care providers,” Andrea McCollum, head of the poxvirus epidemiology team CDC, told STAT News.
- Children are at higher risk, and smallpox can cause complications during pregnancy or stillbirth, according to the WHO.
- Doctors should suspect smallpox if patients have a rash after traveling to confirmed countries or if a patient has reported contact with someone who has been to one of those countries, the CDC’s health report said.
- UK officials have identified many recent cases of monkeypox in gays or bisexual men, possibly resulting from close contact at bars and parties.
Note: UNAIDS, a joint UN program, said in a statement that it was concerned that “some public reports and comments on Monkeypox have used language and images, especially images of LGBTI and African people, which reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbate stigma. “.
- “The lessons of the AIDS response show that stigma and guilt directed at certain groups of people can quickly undermine the outbreak,” according to UNAIDS.
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