92 Monkeypox cases reported so far; here’s what you need to know  

Rising cases of monkeypox have impacted the global healthcare infrastructure, which was stretched way beyond its limits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, severely. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 92 cases of infection and 28 suspect cases have also been reported so far.  

Back home, no case of monkeypox has been reported in India’s financial capital—Mumbai. Mumbai’s civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has kept a 28-bed ward at the Kasturba Hospital ready for isolating suspected cases of monkeypox. Health facilities have also been told to notify and refer any suspected cases to the Kasturba Hospital.  

Samples for testing will be sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. The BMC issued an advisory about the viral zoonotic disease and asked airport authorities to screen passengers coming from endemic and non-endemic countries showing outbreaks.  

Globally, Countries like Denmark, Israel, and Canary Islands have also reported their first cases of the virus. Cases of monkeypox have also been reported from Britain, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Sweden, and the US.  

Top developments so far 

1. Health authorities in Canary Islands confirmed a case of monkeypox in Gran Canaria on Monday. With this, the total number of cases in Spain reaches 35. This is the first confirmed case outside the Madrid region.  

2. Spanish Health Ministry has published a protocol that includes isolation, using masks and contact tracing to prevent the spread of monkeypox.  

3. Denmark has also reported its first case of monkeypox in a person who returned from a trip to Gran Canaria in Spain. The Statens Serum Institut (SSI) was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, “The patient has mild symptoms and is in home isolation.”  

4. European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported 59 confirmed cases and at least 10 suspected infections in the member states of the European Union and European Economic Area.  

5. On May 7, the first case of monkeypox in the UK was confirmed in a patient who travelled from Nigeria. The US Massachusetts Department of Public Health, on the other hand, confirmed a case of monkeypox infection in an adult male who travelled to Canada on May 18.  

6. US President Joe Biden said that the country has vaccines to tackle infections like monkeypox. Speaking at the US and Japan Joint Statement in Tokyo, Biden said, “We have vaccines to take care of the likelihood of the problem. It doesn’t raise the kind of alarm that COVID-19 did.” 

7. Monkeypox is defined as “viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.”  

8. Common symptoms of monkeypox include fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes. The virus transmits from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials like bedding.  

9. Animal-to-human transmission is also possible through a bite or scratch and bushmeat preparations of wild animals. 
 
10. Incubation period of the infection is usually between 6 to 13 days but can range from 5 to 21 days.  

11. It is caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family. The virus has two clades—the west African clade and Congo Basin (Central African) clade. 

12. Monkeypox endemic countries include Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana (animal cases only), Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and the Republic of the Congo.  

(With agency inputs) 

Also read: Monkeypox: How dangerous is it, how concerned should one be?

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