On Friday, The Union Health Ministry released a guideline report to aware people about how to manage Monkey pox. The guidelines were issued right after India confirmed its first case of monkeypox in Kollam district of Kerala.
The patient is a 35-year-old person who landed at Trivandrum after a trip to UAE on July 12. In The UAE, one of his friends had diagnosed for monkey pox a couple of days ago. As of now, Kerala government has informed that he is recovering quickly.
A Central team is sent to Kerala on the order of The Union Health Ministry to overview if the infectious disease is highly transmissible. Everyone is very much aware that India and in fact the whole world has entered into the third year of COVID Pandemic.
Now the question that arise here is, will this infection take the entire world into another medical emergency and how will India cope up with it?
What is Monkeypox?
A rare condition known as monkeypox is brought on by infection with the monkeypox virus. The variola virus, which causes smallpox, and the monkeypox virus are both members of the same virus family. Smallpox symptoms are comparable to those of monkey pox, but they are milder, and monkey pox rarely results in death. Monkey pox and chicken pox are unrelated.
What are the symptoms of Monkeypox?
Numerous symptoms and indicators are associated with monkeypox. While some people only experience minor symptoms, others may experience more severe symptoms and require medical attention. Pregnant women, children, and anyone with impaired immune systems are at higher risk for serious illness or complications.
Monkeypox is most frequently characterized by fever, headache, muscle aches, back discomfort, lack of energy, and swollen lymph nodes. A rash that can continue for two to three weeks develops as a result of or in conjunction with this. The face, palms of the hands, soles of the feet, eyes, mouth, throat, groyne, and genital and/or anal parts of the body can all be affected by the rash.
For how long does the sympotoms last?
Symptoms normally last two to three weeks and disappear on their own or with supportive treatment, such as fever-relieving drugs or painkillers. Until all lesions have crusted over, all scabs have fallen off, and a fresh layer of skin has developed underneath, a person is still contagious.
Anyone who may have monkeypox symptoms or who has come into touch with someone who has should contact or see a healthcare professional for guidance.
Is Monkeypox same as COVID or there’s a different strategy?
The first anxiety is calmed by Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, a physician affiliated with the India Medical Task Force on Covid in Kerala. According to Jayadevan, who has closely tracked the progression of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said monkeypox does not spread quickly via the air like Covid-19 does.
He calmed down people by stating that, “It is also not much of a lethal disease. Note that there were no deaths in US or Europe among about 6000 known cases this year. It is true that in places in Africa there was certain mortality, but that was primarily the Congo strain of this virus which is not what is circulating elsewhere”.
Monkeypox virus is transmissible but not through air like Sars CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. “There is remote possibility of spread through droplets or even surfaces. Till date no case recorded of infections through droplets or surfaces,” Infectious Disease specialist stated.
Who is at risk of catching Monkeypox?
People who live with a person or animal infected from Monkeypox or has any kind of contact with them are at higher risk. People who work in health sector have to take extra care of them while treating patients tested positive for Monkeypox. People underlying immunity deficiency like Newborn Infants, senior citizens and young kids are at risk of maybe more serious infection and in rare cases, death is possible.
Those who had the smallpox vaccine may be somewhat protected from monkeypox. However, it is improbable that younger people received the smallpox vaccine because, when the disease was declared eradicated in most of the world in 1980, immunization programmes were discontinued. Those who have received the smallpox vaccine should continue to take preventative measures to safeguard both themselves and others.