According to reports, the World Health Organization is convening an emergency meeting after more people are diagnosed with rare monkeypox. With the US government already buying up a potential vaccine against the disease, here’s what we know so far.
It is where?
In West and Central Africa it is an endemic disease. Monkeypox can also be contracted from wild animals like rats, mice and squirrels. A case from the UK involving an infected patient was reported earlier this month. “a recent travel history from Nigeria” Health authorities were alerted to this case, which was reported as 20 in Britain on Friday.
There have been cases of monkeypox in Spain, Portugal and France as well as in Germany, Italy and Belgium.
How can you identify the signs?
Monkeypox looks similar to human smallpox. This virus was eliminated in 1980. Initial symptoms of monkeypox include headaches, fever, muscle aches and backache as well as swollen lymph glands, chills and exhaustion. It often starts in the forehead and can spread to other areas of the body.
The symptoms of monkeypox typically appear in one to two weeks after infection. They can last up to four weeks. Although there is no known cure for monkeypox, most patients recover, and the WHO estimates a fatality rate of around 3-6%.
Health officials in multiple countries have noted that among the cases they’ve tracked, the lesions associated with monkeypox are appearing predominantly on male patients’ genitals, prompting speculation about sexual transmission.
It spreads how?
The WHO states that human-to-human transmission typically occurs through respiratory droplets or contact with an infected patient’s skin lesions.
Monkeypox wasn’t previously considered a sexually transmitted disease. However, the majority of cases in the UK involved gay men. Nearly all the Spanish and Portuguese cases were found in men who had sex with others, which is contrary to what was originally thought. Most of Canada’s cases too have involved gay men, as have outbreaks elsewhere.
“The high proportion of cases in the current outbreak in England that are gay or bisexual is highly suggestive of spread in sexual networks,” Mateo Prochazka (UKHSA) is a researcher stated Tuesday. Although Prochazka cautioned that the disease can be passed through “close contact in general” too, gay and bisexual men have been advised The UKHSA alerts you “unusual rashes or blisters in the face and genital area.”
What’s being done?
Bavarian Nordic is a Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer of a smallpox and monkeypox combination vaccine. Jynneos is a shot that was approved by US Food and Drug Administration. However, it has not been approved in Europe for smallpox vaccination.
Bavarian Nordic, which announced Wednesday that $119 million in freeze-dried Jynneos vaccinations had been ordered by the US government. Delivery will begin next year. The government’s total contract with Bavarian Nordic amounts to $299 million, which would provide 13 million of these freeze-dried doses.
The pharma company announced the contract it had won with Anand Pharmaceuticals a day later. “undisclosed European country” To supply vaccine, known in Europe as Imvanex, for use off-label against monkeypox.
Should the vaccine be given out to the public, health experts in the UK have suggested that gay men could be offered the jab in a “targeted rollout.”
Doesn’t this all sound familiar?
A recent news report may have revealed that global governments are considering a monkeypox outbreak. Last year’s simulation saw the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Munich Security Conference simulate the spread of monkeypox. “a deadly, global pandemic involving an unusual strain of monkeypox virus” This led to “more than three billion cases and 270 million fatalities worldwide.”
In conclusion, the NTI called for more power and funding to be given to international organizations like the UN and WHO, and advised governments to react to potential outbreaks by granting themselves emergency powers and mandating social distancing and mask wearing.
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Vaccine evangelist Bill Gates has also repeatedly warned of a potential smallpox pandemic, and called for a “global pandemic task force” In advance of this scenario, it is important to have a plan in place. Meanwhile, health ministers of the G7 nations are currently holding a mock pandemic exercise in Berlin simulating a “leopard pox” outbreaks, but simultaneously, we will be discussing monkeypox.
