In the January 30, 2020, edition of The Journal Sentinel, our first editorial appeared about the coronavirus. Little did any of us know what the future would hold for this virus that has since rocked our world.
Although it is not the intent of the paper to cry “wolf” whenever an illness makes the news, one needs to be aware of the 780 cases of monkeypox now in 27 countries. As of this past Sunday, June 5, 2022, a case of monkeypox was reported in Georgia, according to the Department of Public Health. This rare disease does not occur naturally in the United States, but it has been detected occasionally in people who have traveled internationally or when animals are imported from other areas with the disease.
The metro Atlanta male resident, whose case of orthopoxvirus (often referred to as monkeypox) is suspected, has a history of international travel. The person is currently isolating at home, and confirmatory testing is being conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Monkeypox is a disease caused by a virus in the same genus as smallpox and cowpox. It was first discovered in 1958 in a group of monkey test subjects, and the first human case was counted in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Outbreaks in other countries, including the United States, have occurred since.
Unlike COVID-19, it is not primarily an airborne virus. Monkeypox is spread when people come into contact with an infected animal or person, or materials with the virus on them. This could arise from a bite or scratch from an infect animal, contact with bodily fluids or sores on an infected person, or materials that have come into contact with the sores.
According to the CDC, the symptoms of monkeypox in humans are similar to but milder than the symptoms of smallpox. Monkeypox begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion. The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7 to 14 days but can range from 5 to 21 days. The illness begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and exhaustion.
Usually within one to three days after the appearance of fever, the patient develops a rash, often beginning on the face and then spreading to other parts of the body. Lesions progress through several stages, and these lesions become blisters filled with white fluid, before becoming scabs that fall off.
The illness typically lasts for two to four weeks. In Africa, monkeypox has been shown to cause death in as many as one in ten persons who contract the disease. About 70 deaths from monkey pox have been reported across five African countries this year.
Actually, monkeypox has been found in the United States before, including in 2003 when cases appeared in several states among people who reported becoming sick from pet prairie dogs. The prairie dogs are thought to have contracted the virus from small mammals imported from Ghana. Two cases appeared in 2021 in the United States, and both were associated with people who had recently traveled to Nigeria.
The CDC is tracing 18 confirmed cases of monkeypox or the related “orthopoxvirus” in the U.S., according to a June 6 story in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.
Although the existence of monkeypox is not a cry for alarm, since the CDC says the risk to the general public is low, people should still avoid close contact with anyone suspected of having monkeypox and continue to heed sanitary and hygiene practices with which we have become accustomed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
