Close surveillance of monkeypox in humans

According to the Ministry of Health, the notice of the World Health Organization (WHO) as of May 21 has recorded 92 cases of monkeypox and 28 suspected cases reported in 12 countries around the world, of which there are UK, Portugal, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Australia, USA… These are countries that are not endemic for the virus.

In Vietnam, the institutes: Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur; Departments of Health of provinces and cities are also strengthening close monitoring of this disease.

Particularly for provinces with border gates, the Ministry of Health requested to further strengthen surveillance to detect cases with suspected symptoms early for appropriate guidance and management. In case of detecting suspected cases, the Department of Health is requested to immediately report to the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur in the area to agree on taking samples for testing and identifying the agent when necessary. In addition, the Ministry of Health also works closely with WHO to promptly update information on this disease and response measures.

According to the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), the main cause of monkeypox has not been identified yet, but the most feared route of transmission is through direct contact.

According to the US CDC, monkeypox is a viral disease that is transmitted from animals to humans. Symptoms of the disease are similar but milder than those of smallpox. The disease begins with symptoms of fever, headache, muscle aches and exhaustion. The main difference between the symptoms of the 2 diseases is that monkeypox causes the lymph nodes to swell while smallpox does not.

Monkeypox is less contagious, has milder symptoms, and has a lower mortality rate than smallpox.

For monkeypox, the time from infection to symptoms is usually 7-14 days but can be 5-21 days.

Symptoms can appear anywhere on the body. Symptoms of monkeypox at onset are usually fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, chills, exhaustion, and swollen lymph nodes.

The illness usually lasts 2 to 4 weeks. The key difference between the symptoms of smallpox and monkeypox is that monkeypox causes the lymph nodes to swell whereas smallpox does not.