Monkeypox cases rising globally: Health authorities said they may have found a third case of the monkeypox virus in the United States and are running tests on a patient in South Florida to confirm if the person has contracted the disease, which is staging a rare outbreak outside of Africa, news agency Reuters reported.
Monkeypox, first discovered in 1958, is a viral infection of an Orthopoxvirus genus virus of the Poxviridae family and boasts of siblings such as variola virus which causes smallpox, vaccinia virus which is used in smallpox vaccination, and cowpox virus, said Dr. Rajesh Jaria, Consultant, Internal Medicine, P D Hinduja Hospital & Medical Research Centre, Khar.
Here is what we know so far about the monkeypox virus
1) In Europe, more than 100 cases of viral infection, which spreads through close person-to-person contact, have been reported recently.
2) Argentina’s health ministry said on Sunday it had detected a suspected case of monkeypox in Buenos Aires.
3) A World Health Organization (WHO) roundup of the outbreak on Saturday had said there were 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox, mostly in Europe but also in Canada, the United States, and Australia.
4) US President Joe Biden on Sunday said that people should be on guard against monkeypox which has the potential for a “consequential” impact if it were to spread further. “But it is something that everybody should be concerned about,” Biden told reporters before boarding Air Force One to fly to Tokyo. “It is a concern, in that, if it were to spread, it would be consequential,” he added.
5) Belgium has become the first country to make the 21-day quarantine compulsory for the monkeypox patients after four cases of the disease have been reported last week.
6) On May 7, a case of monkeypox has been confirmed in England, in a patient who recently traveled from Nigeria, as per the UK Health Security Agency.
7) On May 18, the US Massachusetts Department of Public Health confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in an adult male with recent travel to Canada.
8) Monkeypox transmission is from close contact, via body fluids, respiratory droplets, and even clothing but with limited human-to-human spread.
9) Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headaches, and skin rashes starting on the face and spreading to the rest of the body.
10) The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in Congo and though its natural reservoir remains unknown, African rodents and non-human primates like monkeys may harbor the virus and infect people.
-With agency inputs
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