Monkey pox: Symptoms, prevention and risk of epidemic

Th.S-BS Han Tieu Sao – Saigon South International General Hospital, said, monkey pox is a rare virus related to smallpox that can be transmitted from animals through bodily fluids, including saliva or respiratory droplets, or through contact with wound secretions and through shared objects. as bed linen and towels. Most people who get monkeypox are usually children.

The rash usually starts on the face, then spreads to other parts of the body. The lesions on the patient’s body will go through a number of processes from burning to rashes, then blisters and pustules. Eventually, the lesions crust over before falling off and healing, leaving a scar.

Symptoms of monkeypox

Symptoms of monkeypox usually include fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, and fatigue. rash chickenpox on hands and face. The illness usually lasts 2-4 weeks, and symptoms can appear anywhere on the body 5-21 days after infection.

Symptoms of monkeypox at onset are usually fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, chills, exhaustion, and swollen lymph nodes. Once febrile, the typical clinical presentation of monkeypox is an itchy rash 1-3 days later, which usually begins as pustules on the face and then spreads to other parts of the body. body.

The number of vesicles can range from a few to thousands. These pustules will “rip” up and then burst out very ugly. The pimple first emerges from a tiny flat nodule that becomes a vesicle (the inside of the pimple is filled with fluid), then becomes a pustule (the inside is filled with pus) and finally scabs over before disappearing.

A portion of skin tissue, taken from a monkey’s skin wound, was infected with the monkeypox virus REUTERS

Is monkeypox contagious?

Not like the virus that causes Covid-19 can be spread by airborne and respiratory droplets, monkeypox is spread by much closer contact. When you share a bed, clothing, or toothbrush with an infected person, there is a higher risk.

Humans can contract monkeypox virus through three main routes. One is from the bite or scratch of an animal that carries the virus. The second is when eating sick animals. Third is direct contact with sick people.

“Monkey smallpox virus enters the body through lesions in the skin, respiratory tract or mucous membranes (eyes, nose, mouth). In humans, the virus is transmitted mainly through respiratory droplets, but it cannot be spread to several meters, so it takes close contact to infect,” said Dr. Tieu Sao.

A case of monkeypox in the US CDC/GETTY

The cause of this outbreak is unknown at this time. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted three unusual features in the first cases: almost all patients did not travel to areas where monkeypox is endemic; mostly discovered through services health sex and men who have sex with people of the same sex; The widespread spread indicates that the disease has been in the making for some time.

How to prevent monkeypox?

Dr. Han Tieu Sao recommends that monkeypox can be prevented through measures such as self-isolation and hygiene. People with monkeypox usually go away on their own in about 2-4 weeks.

Some antiviral drugs include the new antiviral drug tecovirimat (recently approved to treat smallpox) and the antiviral drug cidofovir, the research drug brincidofovir (CMX001).

However, no drugs have been studied or used in endemic areas to treat monkeypox.

Can become Disease hazardous

Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, a consultant at the Department of Neurological Infections, Children’s Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Standing Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Infectious Diseases Association, said that the monkeypox virus is still not domesticated with humans, so the speed of spread still slow, not translated right away. However if the house policyhealth management does not have measures to prevent and prevent, when the monkeypox virus is domesticated with humans, the speed of spread is fast, it will become a dangerous disease.

According to Dr. Khanh, currently monkeypox virus has not yet spread rapidly through the respiratory tract, the most common route of infection is still through sex gay men.

There is currently no vaccine against monkeypox, but medical data show that the common smallpox vaccine is also effective against monkeypox. However, this vaccine has been discontinued. The reintroduction of monkeypox vaccination depends on researchers, health authorities on world.

For the people, Dr. Khanh recommends staying calm, not panicking. Effective prevention measures are limited to epidemic areas, if there are signs of illness, they should be isolated…