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.

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 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.

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.

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."

Covid-19 pandemic.

The West African Ebola outbreak, 2014.

The Zika virus in Latin America, 2016

Polio, 2014.

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.