Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Monkeypox)

Why in News?

  • The World Health Organization, for the second time in two years, has declared a viral outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Four cases in India and around 14,500 monkeypox cases globally have been confirmed.

About Monkeypox

  • First discovered in 1958, in monkeys at the Statens Serum Institute in Denmark. Monkeypox is a zoonotic virus that can infect humans as well as other animals, including rodents and other primate species.
  • Currently the virus has become endemic in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central and West Africa.
  • The virus belongs to the same family of viruses as variola that causes smallpox.
  • Symptoms are similar to those in smallpox patients, although it is less contagious and less severe.

Symptoms

  • Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, and lethargy along with rashes and blisters commonly on the face, palms, feet, mouth, eyes, or genitalia.
  • Symptoms generally appear within two weeks since infection but can last for two to four weeks, with severe cases occurring mostly among children.
  • In most cases, monkeypox is a self-limited disease that resolves spontaneously without any specific treatment.
  • However, newborns, young children, and people with underlying immune deficiencies may be at a higher risk of developing more severe symptoms.
  • In the early stage of the disease,• Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, and lethargy along with rashes and blisters commonly on the face, palms, feet, mouth, eyes, or genitalia.
  • Symptoms generally appear within two weeks since infection but can last for two to four weeks, with severe cases occurring mostly among children.
  • In most cases, monkeypox is a self-limited disease that resolves spontaneously without any specific treatment.
  • However, newborns, young children, and people with underlying immune deficiencies may be at a higher risk of developing more severe symptoms.
  • In the early stage of the disease, Monkeypox can be distinguished from smallpox because the lymph gland gets enlarged.

Virus transmission

  • The virus can be transmitted from both animals to humans and between humans.
  • Animal-to-human transmission of the virus can result from close contact with blood, fluids, or skin lesions of infected animals.
  • Human-to-human transmission could happen through close contact, and through body secretions, skin lesions, or contaminated articles of individuals infected with monkeypox.
  • Close human contact during sexual activities is believed to be a driver of the current spread of the disease, as evidenced by its predominant spread in gay, bisexual and MSM communities.

Declaring an Emergency

  • The WHO defines a PHEIC as a disease outbreak that “constitutes a public health risk through the international spread of disease” which may require an immediate and coordinated international response.
  • This designation entails accelerated international efforts to contain the spread of the disease before it escalates into a pandemic.
  • Three criteria for declaring emergency :
  • "Extraordinary Event,"
  • "Constitutes a Public Health Risk”
  • "Potentially requires a coordinated international response."
  • Previously Declared Emergency
  • Covid-19 pandemic.
  • The West African Ebola outbreak, 2014.
  • The Zika virus in Latin America, 2016
  • Polio, 2014.

Treatment and Vaccine

  • There is no specific treatment or vaccine available for Monkeypox infection.
  • In the past, the anti-smallpox vaccine has shown 85% effectiveness to prevent Monkeypox.
  • But the world was declared free of smallpox in 1980 so the vaccine isn’t widely available anymore.