KOCHI: With The UAE, Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic registering their first cases of monkeypox, a rare viral illness which had its base in Africa, the virus has now spread to about 19 countries.
Germany confirmed its first case of the rare virus on May 20, followed by the UK, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and Sweden. The first case of monkeypox was reported in the UK on May 7. There are currently over 200 outside Africa. With the Gulf reporting the first case of the viral zoonotic disease, experts fear that many of the cases are going unnoticed. Though no case of monkeypox has been reported in India till now, the health ministry is on high alert.
How prepared is Kerala?
Health Minister Veena George said in a press note that all district medical offices in the state have been warned about monkeypox. However, Ernakulam DMO Jayasree V said the government was yet to communicate a “concrete plan”.
Meanwhile, a health department official said, “We have received guidelines on monkeypox from the Union ministry of health. We have alerted all the medical officers regarding this.”
Symptoms
Similar to smallpox, but less severe
Fever
Headache
Muscular pain
Tiredness
Lymph node swelling
Has a 7-14 day incubation period
Origin
Monkeypox was initially found in 1958, when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in groups of monkeys kept for research, thus the name. First human case was discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970
Transmission
The virus is transmitted when a person comes into contact with the monkeypox virus from an animal, a human, or contaminated objects. The virus enters the body through damaged skin, the respiratory tract, or mucous membranes (even if they are not apparent) (eyes, nose, or mouth). Bite or scratch, bush meat processing, direct contact with bodily fluids or lesion material, or indirect contact with lesion material, such as through contaminated bedding, are all possible methods of animal-to-human transmission. Large respiratory droplets are assumed to be the primary mode of human-to-human transmission.