The ‘World Health Organization’ (WHO) has declared monkeypox a global emergency. It is a viral infection. This is the second time in two years that this disease has spread all over the world in this way. Let’s know the symptoms and causes of monkeypox flu.
These people are most at risk of monkeypox
Monkeypox can be fatal. Children, pregnant women and people with weak immunity and HIV are at a very high risk of this disease. WHO has recently declared it a global emergency in view of the dangerous form of the disease. Because a new strain of monkeypox virus, which was first identified in .
This disease is now slowly spreading to other countries as well
Monkeypox spreads through close physical contact, including sexual contact, but there is no evidence that it spreads easily through the air. The new strain has sparked concern because it appears to spread more easily between people. Two years ago, the WHO declared ampox an emergency when one form of the disease, ‘clade IIb’, began spreading around the world, mainly among men who have sex with men.
Worsen situation in Africa
Ampox has been a public health problem in parts of Africa for decades. The first human case was in Congo in 1970, and outbreaks have occurred since then. The worst outbreak so far has been in Congo. With 27,000 cases reported so far and more than 1,100 deaths since January 2023, most of them children, two types of ampox are now spreading in Congo – the endemic form of the virus, ‘Clade I’, and a new strain called ‘Clade Ib’, with the term ‘clade’ referring to a form of the virus.
From Congo, it has spread to Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya. Sweden on Thursday reported the first case of the new form, ‘Clade Ib’, outside Africa. A WHO spokesperson said the case reiterates the need for partnerships, and the agency continues to advise against travel restrictions to prevent the spread of ampox. Pakistan on Friday confirmed a case of the ampox virus in a patient who had returned from the Gulf country, though it was unclear whether it was of the new variant or the clade that has been spreading globally since 2022.
A WHO appeal for $34 million to fight ampox in 2022 received no response from donors, and there was a huge disparity in who had access to vaccine doses. African countries did not have access to the two shots used in the global outbreak, made by Bavarian Nordic and KM Biologics.
That remains the case two years later, though efforts are being made to change that, the WHO said on Wednesday as it appealed to countries with stockpiles to donate doses. The Africa CDC said it had plans to secure doses, without going into further detail, but stocks are currently limited. Mortality rates vary, and depend heavily on the healthcare available to the sickest patients. In this outbreak in Congo, both ‘Clade I’ and ‘Clade Ib’ have had rates of about 4 percent. ‘Clade II’, which spread globally, was much less deadly.
Disclaimer: Some of the information given in the news is based on media reports. You must consult the concerned expert before implementing any suggestion.