Monkey Pox Virus- A sounding alarm!
Hello everyone, @melanie00 here again. I was recently posted to a federal university teaching hospital for some more hands on training. There, i came across my first ever physical monkey pox case. A family of three, all infected. They unfortunately had lost their neighbour to monkey pox and now they are running helter skelter looking for a solution to their life threatening problem.
Monkey pox has become a serious cause for concern in Africa, Especially in West African countries. This deadly virus is becoming increasingly rampant so I have decided to make this a case study today. Let's look through a brief history before we dive further.
The monkey pox was first discovered in 1958 among laboratory monkeys, the first human monkey pox case occurred in 1970 at the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, it has occurred on different occasions in different parts of the world. The monkey pox breakout that happened in the U.S in the year 2003, was traced back to a pet shop that sold imported Gambian rodents, the virus however was contained before it became fatal.During that time, a total of 71 people from 5 states were infected.
An outbreak of Monkey pox happened in Nigeria in 2017. This has spread to 11 states and 74 human cases has been recorded.10% of the people who contract the disease in Africa eventually die.
The monkey pox virus is similar to small pox, but with a milder rash and a lower death rate. It produces lots of pox lesion on the skin.
What Exactly Causes The Money Pox Infection?
The Monkey pox infection is caused by an orthopoxvirus named monkey pox. The virus is responsible for the disease in both humans and animals. The virus is found mainly in the tropical rain forest regions of central or West Africa.
The Monkey pox virus can spread from animal to human and also from human to human. The virus can spread from animal to human through bites and scratches from the animal (especially if the bite or scratch results in an opening on the human skin). Any close exposure to an animal that carries the virus will lead to a transmission. Eating the meat of an infected animal or caring for an animal that has the infection can also lead to a transmission.
In both human and animal, exposure to the bodily fluids of any who has the infection automatically leads to a transmission. Transmission in human to human is relatively low as most recorded transmission are from animals. For there to be a transmission between humans, there has to be very close contact like sharing the same room or personal items.
Monkey pox is diagnosed by the lesions and pox on the skin.If there has been no previous exposure to situations that makes one vulnerable, some tests are run on skin and pox samples to be sure its small pox.
Signs and Symptoms usually begin to surface after 5-10 days of primary exposure. Fever, Sweating, nausea and shortness of breath are some of the beginning symptoms. 2 or 4 days after that, the rash develops and the pox begins to form. It usually starts at the face and chest, then it spreads.
There is no proven treatment to monkey pox, small pox vaccine is usually given between 2 weeks of exposure and an antiviral drug is given to patients with severe and life threatening symptoms.
Patients with mild symptoms tend to begin to heal in less than 3 weeks. Patients with immune problems or compromised health problems may develop complications like pneumonia and bacterial infections which just worsens the situation and reduces chances of survival. Patients with mild symptoms have a very good chance of surviving.
I believe monkey pox can be prevented by totally avoiding animals that are prone to be carriers. Getting the small pox vaccination and try to stay clear from areas where the infection is widespread. Caregivers should always use barriers( like gloves and masks). Anyone who has been exposed to the virus should please stay isolated until its been proven safe to move around, this is to avoid further transmission.
A lot of research is going on and some animals are being used for experiments as scientists work hard to try and get a vaccination or treatment for monkey pox.Diffrent types of anti viral drugs are also being tested to see how it can help suppress symptoms and infections.
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There was a recent saga about this monkey pox in this part of Naija. But I thought this pox has gone to the limbo, only to resurface again.
Now I'm officially scared :)
You should be ☺
Although it's really hard to get it from another human (you'll have to have very close contact for that to happen), its the animals you should be scared of.
I personally don't do any sort of bush meat since the ebola incident.
Everyone just has to be very careful... this is very real.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers!