Monkeypox: What are the symptoms and how is it transmitted?
After the first case of monkeypox was recorded in Sweden and the WHO’s decision to declare a global health emergency, Mpox is starting to worry Europe, especially because of a new strain that is much more dangerous than the one that circulated between 2022 and 2023. But what is monkeypox? And how is it transmitted? And again: what are the symptoms? And is there a cure? Here’s everything we know about the virus.
The virus has become endemic in Nigeria and Congo. In 2003, the disease was also detected in the United States with an outbreak that began following the importation of rodents from Africa. The first cases recorded in the United Kingdom, however, date back to 2018 with three people infected after the journey of a man returning from Nigeria.
Contagiousness and diffusion
Belonging to the orthopoxvirus family, the virus can be transmitted by contact or through droplets, that is, respiratory droplets emitted by sneezing, coughing or simply talking.
Clothing, bed linens, towels or dishes contaminated by the virus from an infected person can also infect other people.
The symptoms
Symptoms usually include: fever, drowsiness, headache, muscle pain. The most frequent signs, however, are swollen lymph nodes and skin rashes or lesions.
The rash usually begins within three days of the onset of fever. The lesions may be flat or slightly raised, filled with clear or yellowish fluid, and may crust, dry, and fall off. Anogenital lesions predominate, followed by the trunk, arms, and legs, face, and palms of the hands and feet. The rash may also be found on the mouth, perigenital area, and eyes.
Symptoms usually disappear spontaneously within 14 to 21 days of the onset of illness. The virus can kill up to one in ten infected patients.
The smallpox vaccine, although a different strain, can still be effective in protecting against the virus, especially in preventing complications from it.
There is no specific cure for monkeypox although there is an antiviral, Tecovirimat, that may be effective in killing the virus.
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