The World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to declare an outbreak of monkeypox as a global health emergency. Citing Reuters on Saturday (23/7), WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will soon hold a press conference regarding the outbreak. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) records 15,800 people in 72 countries have been infected with monkeypox. The number of monkeypox cases has soared since early May 2022 outside the West and Central African countries.
Then, WHO convened an emergency committee with a number of experts to decide the status of monkeypox in the world. However, there is no agreement regarding this matter. “I need your advice in assessing the short- and medium-term public health implications,” Tedros said at the more than six-hour meeting.
Meanwhile, Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for National and Global Health Law Lawrence Gostin issued a letter warning regarding monkeypox. “We have seen an exponential increase in cases. It is inevitable that cases will increase dramatically in the coming weeks and months,” explained Gostin.
The European Union drug watchdog recommends using Imvanex to treat monkeypox. Imvanex was developed by the Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic and has been approved in the European Union since 2013 for the prevention of smallpox.
Some claim that Imvanex could be a potential vaccine because of the similarities between the monkeypox virus and the common smallpox virus.
This makes people have to increase their vigilance. The public is advised to be aware of some of the symptoms of monkeypox in order to get the right treatment.
Monkeypox itself is an infectious disease caused by infection with the rare Monkeypox virus. The disease was detected again in May in the UK. Since then, monkeypox has continued to spread to other non-endemic countries. Closer to Indonesia, cases of monkeypox have also been reported in Singapore.
To date, the WHO has recorded more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox. Tens of thousands of cases were reported by as many as 75 countries. So far, monkeypox resulted in as many as five patients died.
The first human case of monkeypox was discovered in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From there, monkeypox sprang up and spread throughout Central and West Africa as much as an endemic disease.
Symptoms of Monkey Pox
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States (US) said that basically the symptoms of monkeypox are similar to other types of smallpox. However, monkeypox symptoms generally appear with a milder degree. The main difference lies in the swelling of the lymph nodes caused by monkeypox.
“The distinguishing feature of monkeypox infection from other smallpox is the presence of swollen lymph nodes,” the CDC wrote. Symptoms of monkeypox usually appear 7-14 days after exposure to the virus.
Here are some symptoms to watch out for:
- fever
- headache
- muscle ache
- back pain
- swollen lymph nodes
- tired
- a rash that usually appears 1-3 days after the fever.
The rash usually starts on the face and then spreads to other areas of the body. The rash will then turn into lesions and bumps that rupture over time. Monkeypox symptoms generally last for 2-4 weeks and can go away without treatment.
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