What is monkey pox

What is monkeypox and what causes the disease?

First discovered in 1958, in monkeys at the Statens Serum Institute in Denmark.

monkeypox is a zoonotic virus that can infect humans as well as other animals, including rodents and other primate species. 

Ever since the first case

in humans was identified in 1970, in the present Democratic Republic of the Congo,

 the virus has become endemic in parts of Central and West Africa primarily driven by zoonotic spillovers. 

Despite being denoted as ‘monkeypox’, the actual origin and source of the disease are unknown and therefore a misnomer in many ways. 

The virus belongs to the same family of viruses as variola — the virus that causes smallpox. 

The disease presents with symptoms that are similar to those previously seen in smallpox patients, although it is less contagious and less severe.

Symptoms of monkeypox include

fever, headache, muscle pain, and lethargy along with rashes and blisters commonly on the face, palms, feet, mouth, eyes or genitalia. 

These symptoms generally appear within two weeks since infection but can last for two to four weeks, with severe cases occurring mostly among children. 

In most cases, monkeypox is a self-limited disease that resolves spontaneously without any specific treatment.

 However, newborns, young children and people with underlying immune deficiencies may be at a higher risk of developing more severe symptoms.

Source the hindu