Monkeypox case confirmed in UK: Know symptoms, treatment, other details

A man who travelled to Nigeria has been infected with monkeypox virus. The news has been confirmed by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which has mentioned that monkeypox is a rare viral infection that doesn’t spread easily.

According to the UKHSA, the monkeypox virus is usually a mild ‘self-limiting illnesses. It can cause severe illness only in some cases. Most infected patients recover in a short time span.

The first case of monkeypox was reported in the UK in 2018. As per a BBC report, only a ‘handful of cases have been confirmed by health authorities’ since that time.

1. Symptoms of Monkeypox

The symptoms of Monkeypox are quite similar to smallpox. They can lead to fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, headache, chills and exhaustion.

While less severe than smallpox, monkeypox can also cause rash all over the body. These rashes undergo various changes through different stages before they transform into a scab.

2. How can the monkeypox virus spread?

Those who are in clos contact to the infected person may contract the virus. It can enter via broken skin, the respiratory tract or through the eyes, nose and mouth.

It can also spread by coming in contact with infected animals, who can be carriers of the virus or by virus-contaminated objects.

Most monkeypox cases are spotted in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Those outside Africa mostly spread due to international travel or imported animals.

3. Treatment for Monkeypox

There is no treatment for monkeypox. However, smallpox vaccination has proven to be 85 per cent effective in preventing monkeypox.

4. More about Monkeypox

Monkeypox is a rare disease that is caused by the monkeypox virus that belongs to the same Orthopoxvirus genus which includes smallpox-causing variola virus.

First discovered in 1958, this disease is a ‘zoonosis’ i.e. it gets transmitted from infected animals to humans.

As per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Monkeypox was discovered when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease spread in colonies of monkeys who were kept for research.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), monkeypox cases are mostly spotted closer to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the monkeypox virus. Based on research, the infection can be spotted in squirrels, Gambian pouched rats, dormice and some specific species of monkeys.