There is so much focus on the coronavirus right now and I want to switch this blog post up a bit! There are other outbreaks and cases of organisms in the world right now, one of them being monkey pox. This outbreak in particular seemed interesting to me because I have never heard of it before! I’ve heard of chicken pox and small pox but never monkey! I am interested to learn and share about this disease and outbreak through this blog to bring more awareness! According to the CDC, at the end of 2019 there was an outbreak of monkey pox in Nigeria. These cases were seen in travelers that were coming from Nigeria and displaying signs. The CDC recommends that travelers avoid the sick, wash their hands often, and avoid wild animals. This is because the virus can be carried in infected animals and transmit to humans through bites, scratches, or even animal products being touched.
Monkey pox can spread from person to person as well. The sores on the person and bodily fluids are infectious. Coughing, sneezing, and talking are also ways that the virus is transmitted. Earlier this year, The World Health Organization published some more information about monkey pox. They say that this disease is similar to smallpox, but with less severe outcomes. This disease is primarily found in Central and West Africa and about one tenth of the people who contract the disease will die. It has been seen that younger children are more susceptible to fatality from this illness. The incubation time for monkey pox can be from 5 to 21 days and after this time the individual will start to be showing symptoms. If one has monkey pox they will typically display swollen lymph nodes, fever, asthenia, and muscle aches as the first symptoms. These few symptoms last for a few days usually. After these first couple of days of symptoms, there will be skin eruptions characteristic of monkey pox. These eruptions can take shape in many ways from pustules to vesicles to papules or macules. These eruptions will then be scabbed over after.
Although there are different ways to help treat the symptoms of monkey pox, there is no treatment that directly treats the virus. Researchers are working to find a treatment for it though. The key to trying to prevent more cases it proper preventative methods as mentioned above through washing hands, avoiding wild animals and their products, and more. Due to the fact that smallpox is so similar, the smallpox vaccine helps decrease the rate of infection for monkey pox, but that is no longer a vaccination that is available to people, so there is no vaccine immunity for monkey pox either. As you can see, monkey pox, although not as big of an outbreak as the coronavirus by far, is still an outbreak that is occurring in the world today. It is important to take cautionary methods when travelling to places like Nigeria that have monkey pox, or travelling anywhere for that matter, so you know what diseases to try to prepare for and prevent. Thank you so much for reading my blog and stay safe and healthy everyone!!
Microbiology 