Several cases of the viral disease have been discovered in the United States and Europe and health authorities are preparing to stop its spread. The good news: there is an effective vaccine against it
In recent weeks, several cases of monkeypox have been identified in Western Europe and North America. The disease was first discovered inבריטניה And in recent days also inSpain, Canada, the United States, Portugal and Sweden. The spread of the disease in several countries is alarming concern in global health bodies Due to the fear of a scenario where the virus will start circulating in the population even outside its normal distribution area.
Monkey pox is a viral disease that is widespread mainly in central and western Africa and causes the development of blisters all over the body. The cause of the disease is a virus, which was first identified in monkeys, although they are not the main carrier His. Usually when the disease is discovered in western countries, its origin is in Africa. She also Popped in for a visit in Israel in 2018 with a person who returned from a visit to Nigeria.
The monkeypox virus got its name from an outbreak in 1958, when it was transferred to humans from laboratory monkeys in a facility in Copenhagen. Another outbreak, identified in the United States In 2003, it also started in animals, when various rodents imported from Africa infected bark beetles. The chipmunks, large ground squirrels living in North America, were sold as pets. Their owners were infected directly, through bites and scratches, or following contact with secretions when cleaning the cage. The virus infects mammals, including humans. It belongs to the Orthopox family, which also includes cowpox and the infamous smallpox. for a second virus Variants sellers, Central African and West African, and the former usually causes more severe disease. The virus thatdetected in Europe It is from the least aggressive variant.
the virus Passes In contact with body fluids, especially saliva, in large droplets emitted into the air. It penetrates through the openings of the body, mucous tissues, and through wounds - including small wounds in the skin that we are not even aware of their existence. the symptoms of the disease Mention those of the smallpox disease, QExtinction At the end of the 70s of the last century. Therefore, there were cases in the past when monkeypox was mistakenly diagnosed as smallpox.
The virus attacks the cells of the immune system and after an incubation period of a few days the characteristic blisters appear, and with them high fever, chills, headaches andAdditional inflammation symptoms. Despite the familial and mechanistic similarities between the diseases, monkeypox is considered much less lethal. There are indeed findings that indicate a significant mortality rate, which can reach ten percent of the more violent variant inAfrica, but due to its rarity it is difficult to determine how dangerous it is in countries with advanced medicine. Most likely much less, what's more, this time it's the second, less dangerous variant.
Studies conducted at the end of the last century showed that the smallpox vaccine was also effective against other viruses of the same family, including Monkey pox. In fact, the vaccine itself is based on another virus from the same family, which causes only a mild illness in humans. In the past it was one of the routine vaccines given to children all over the world. Today the vaccine is no longer given because it is no longer needed - in Israel, for example Stop to vaccinate him already about twenty years ago. However, the protection that the vaccine provides against infection fades within a few years, and therefore both the previously vaccinated population and the one born after the extinction of smallpox are not protected. In the UK already started to vaccinate People who came into contact with the monkeypox patients, with the aim of interrupting the chain of infection at its beginning, and started to stock up on vaccines for fear of the spread of the disease.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
Is there anything to worry about?
Currently there is no real cause for concern. The number of patients identified so far is very low - only a few dozen confirmed patients or people who are suspected of being infected in all of Europe and North America. It is likely that now, since active monitoring of the disease has begun, more cases will be discovered. as per One of the hypotheses, the timing of the outbreak is related to the renewal of tourist traffic in the world following the lifting of the Corona restrictions in most countries.
The disease contagious, in a prolonged stay face-to-face with the patient or in contact with blisters, body fluids or contaminated surfaces, such as clothes. The symptoms of the disease are very visible to the eye, especially the blisters that are characteristic of it, so that unlike diseases like the corona virus, it is easy to identify a person who is infected and isolate him. However, patients are contagious with the onset of mild symptoms, even before the appearance of blisters, and some patients do not exhibit symptoms. The fact that patients were discovered in several countries at the same time could, in the very pessimistic scenario, indicate a change in the virus that improved its ability to pass from person to person, so that there is a fear of infection between people and latent morbidity in the population.
Careful monitoring of the spread of the disease and quick interruption of chains of infection, along with maintaining hygiene, will be able to reduce the danger of the spread of the disease. If, God forbid, the need for wider action arises, there is also an effective and safe vaccine, even if not free of side effects, which was given in the past with great success to billions of people. When necessary, there will be no difficulty in producing and distributing it in all the centers of the outbreak.
So far many of the patients are young men, some of them men who have relationships with men. It is possible that the relatively high incidence of the disease in this group is related to the lifestyle of some patients, as the virus may pass from person to person through intimate or sexual contact, which includes prolonged skin-to-skin contact and exposure to saliva. It is worth waiting for more findings, especially considering that this is a known virus that comes from a family that has killed millions of people throughout history, but so far has not spread significantly.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
