Monkeypox is a Viral infection rare similar to smallpox . However, it is not as deadly as smallpox.
I know to transmit of from animals to humans and can also be transmitted by from contact with Person to person.
As the disease spreads around the world, many wonder if it risks becoming a new pandemic .
So far, 92 cases have been identified in countries where the disease is not endemic.
For those who contract the virus, symptom to understand:
- fever;
- fatigue;
- and rash with blisters.
positive cases have been found in Australia, Canada and the United States, and in European countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Spain and Portugal as of Sunday had between 21 and 30 cases.
However, the highest figures are found in the UK.
The United States and European countries have already started to buy vaccines immune.
Contents
New pandemic?
monkey pox o Monkeypox is usually benign and no deaths have yet been recorded among the positive cases.
According to experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) the spread of monkeypox is different from that of COVID-19[feminine] and easier to contain.
But, the similarity between Covid and Monkeypox is that both are zoonotic diseases (transition from animal to man).
Zoonotic diseases (or zoonoses)
It is believed that COVID-19 spread from one bat in China.
Other zoonotic diseases that spread from from animals to humans to understand HIV/AIDS the anthrax Yes Ebola .
Monkeypox was discovered in monkeys in 1958 and the first recorded human case dates back to 1970.
In African countries where the disease is more common, they have been found trials monkeypox virus in many animals, including:
- string squirrels;
- tree squirrels;
- Gambian rats;
- field mice;
- and many species of monkeys.
Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Founder and CEO of Conservation by public health Explain :
“People who live in or near forest areas may be exposed at low or indirect levels to infected animals.”
Contagion
Contagion from animals to humans can be caused by a bite or one scratch being the rodents the most likely carriers.
Other zoonoses can be transmitted by meat and animal products poorly prepared (that’s how anthrax spread).
With smallpox, current person-to-person transmission person in non-endemic countries occurs by the close contact between people .
hazards
While diseases like COVID-19 and Ebola pose a greater threat to life than smallpox, zoonotic diseases pose challenges particular to human populations.
Kalema-Zikusoka notes:
“With high human population densities, especially in urban areas, monkeypox can spread more easily between people and between different continents through air travel.
Zoonotic diseases can be difficult to treat if they are not common and do not all have a direct cure. »
It took several decades to develop a treatment very effective against HIV, for example, and there is still no vaccine really effective available.
This reality makes zoonotic diseases in humans so dangerous :
Each case is different. A treatment for one virus is not the same for another.
Prevention
Report Yes educate people is a way to prevent zoonotic diseases.
For example, teaching about the dangers of eating certain foods that may be contaminated and in fact, enforce illegal hunting laws would strengthen conservation education not only about the spread of disease, but also about the Deforestation Yes human access to wild habitats .
The reduction of emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases depends above all on the awareness of the world population and the action of the authorities with mitigation activities to combat the spread of new viruses in the world.
By Lara Menegelli. Article in Portuguese