Can monkeypox kill? Here’s what you need to know

As more cases of monkeypox are getting detected, concerns around the disease are also on the rise. More so after India reported the first monkeypox death in the state of Kerala – the first fatality in Asia.

The zoonotic disease has so far been likened to smallpox and chickenpox. In most of the literature regarding the disease, it has been called a virus that can be contracted through close contact or through lesions. It is known to be accompanied with symptoms such as fever, malaise, headache, sometimes sore throat and cough, and lymphadenopathy or swollen lymph nodes that appear four days before skin lesions and rashes. 

Is monkeypox fatal?

Kerala Health Minister Veena George said, “This particular variant of monkeypox is not as highly virulent or contagious like COVID-19, but it does spread. Comparatively, the mortality rate of this variant is low. Therefore, we will examine why the 22-year-old man died in this particular case as he had no other illness or health problems.''

As evinced from George’s statement, fatality is not a common outcome of monkeypox. 

According to WHO, the fatality of monkeypox has ranged from 0 to 11 per cent. “The case fatality ratio of monkeypox has historically ranged from 0 to 11 per cent in the general population and has been higher among young children. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 3–6 per cent,” it said. 

Monkeypox cases have been reported in 11 African countries – Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and South Sudan – since 1970.

However, the WHO acknowledged that the “true burden” of the disease is not known.

An outbreak was reported in Congo in 1996-97 with a high attack rate but lower-case fatality ratio. The WHO said that a concurrent outbreak of chickenpox – along with monkeypox – was found, which could have altered the transmission dynamics in the case of Congo. 

Nigeria, on the other hand, has experienced a major outbreak with over 500 suspected cases, and 200 confirmed cases since 2017. The case fatality ratio here is 3 per cent. 

In the current outbreak, there have been more than 23,620 cases across 80 countries, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s monkeypox outbreak global map. Brazil, Spain, and Ghana have reported a death each, according to a report in BBC.

Dr SCL Gupta, medical director of Batra Hospital told news agency PTI that the disease is at its juvenile stage right now. “We do not have proper treatment. We are just following the method of isolation and treating the suspected patient according to their symptoms. If there is a throat infection, we use the generic medicines that we usually take. So, here it is a case of symptomatic treatment," he said.

Also read: Monkeypox or chickenpox? How to differentiate between the two

Also read: Monkeypox in India: Govt forms task force to monitor virus situation