Monkeypox

Sections:
What is monkeypox? | How it Spreads? | Signs & Symptoms | Diagnosis & Tests | Complications | Prevention | Treatment | Frequentyl Asked Questions | Key facts.

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What is monkeypox?

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It leads to rash and flu-like symptoms. Like the better known virus that causes smallpox, it is a member of the family called orthopoxvirus.

Monkeypox was discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in groups of monkeys being used for research. It’s spread mainly through human contact with infected rodents, but can sometimes be spread through skin-to-skin contact with an infected person. There are two known types (clades) of monkeypox virus — one that originated in Central Africa and one that originated in West Africa. The current world outbreak (2022) is caused by the less severe West African clade.

How it Spreads?

• The monkeypox virus causes monkeypox. The monkeypox virus spreads through close contact with an infected animal or person. Or it can spread when a person handles materials such as blankets that have been in contact with someone who has monkeypox.

The monkeypox virus spreads from person to person through:

• Direct contact with rashes, scabs or body fluids of a person with monkeypox.

• Extended close contact (more than four hours) with respiratory droplets from an infected person. This includes sexual contact.

• Clothes, sheets, blankets or other materials that have been in contact with rashes or body fluids of an infected person.

• An infected pregnant person can spread the monkeypox virus to a fetus.

Monkeypox spreads from an animal to a person through:

• Animal bites or scratches

• Wild game that is cooked for food

• Products made of infected animals

• Direct contact with body fluids or rashes of animals with monkeypox.

Signs & Symptoms

Symptoms of monkeypox can include:

• Fever

• Headache

• Muscle aches and backache

• Swollen lymph nodes

• Chills

• Exhaustion

• Respiratory symptoms (e.g. sore throat, nasal congestion, or cough)

• A rash that may be located on or near the genitals (penis, testicles, labia, and vagina) or anus (butthole) but could also be on other areas like the hands, feet, chest, face, or mouth.

• The rash will go through several stages, including scabs, before healing.

• The rash can look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy.

You may experience all or only a few symptoms

• Sometimes, people get a rash first, followed by other symptoms. Others only experience a rash.

• Most people with monkeypox will get a rash.

• Some people have developed a rash before (or without) other symptoms.

Monkeypox symptoms usually start within 3 weeks of exposure to the virus. If someone has flu-like symptoms, they will usually develop a rash 1-4 days later.

Monkeypox can be spread from the time symptoms start until the rash has healed, all scabs have fallen off, and a fresh layer of skin has formed. The illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks.

If You Have a New or Unexplained Rash or Other Symptoms...

• Avoid close contact, including sex or being intimate with anyone, until you have been checked out by a healthcare provider.

• If you don’t have a provider or health insurance, visit a public health clinic near you.

• When you see a healthcare provider, wear a mask, and remind them that this virus is circulating in the area.

Diagnosis & Tests

Because monkeypox is rare, your healthcare provider may first suspect other rash illnesses, such as measles or chickenpox. But swollen lymph nodes usually distinguish monkeypox from other poxes.

To diagnose monkeypox, your healthcare provider takes a tissue sample from an open sore (lesion). Then they send it to a lab for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing (genetic fingerprinting). You may also need to give a blood sample to check for the monkeypox virus or antibodies your immune system makes to it.

Complications

Monkeypox complications can include:

• Severe scars on the face, arm and legs

• Blindness

• Other infections

• Death, in rare cases

The type of monkeypox virus spreading in the 2022 outbreak, called the West African type, rarely leads to death.

Prevention

A smallpox vaccine provides protection against monkeypox, but its use is currently limited to clinical trials. Prevention depends on decreasing human contact with infected animals and limiting person-to-person spread. The best way to help prevent spread the monkeypox virus is to:

• Avoid contact with infected animals (especially sick or dead animals).

• Avoid contact with bedding and other materials contaminated with the virus.

• Thoroughly cook all foods that contain animal meat or parts.

• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water.

• Avoid contact with people who may be infected with the virus.

• Practice safe sex, including the use of condoms and dental dams.

• Wear a mask that covers your mouth and nose when around others.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.

• Use personal protective equipment (PPE) when caring for people infected with the virus.

Treatment

Treatment for most people with monkeypox is aimed at relieving symptoms. Care may include drinking enough liquids and pain management.

If you have monkeypox, isolate at home in a separate room from family and pets until your rash and scabs heal.

There is no specific treatment approved for monkeypox. Health care providers may treat monkeypox with some antiviral drugs used to treat smallpox, such as tecovirimat (TPOXX) or brincidofovir (Tembexa). For those unlikely to respond to the vaccine, care providers may offer vaccinia immune globulin, which has antibodies from people who have been given the smallpox vaccine.

Frequentyl Asked Questions

What is the difference?

Monkeypox vs. chickenpox

Although they both cause skin rashes, monkeypox and chickenpox are caused by different viruses. Monkeypox is an orthopoxvirus, while chickenpox is a herpes virus. Both viruses can be spread through skin-to-skin or prolonged face-to-face contact, but chickenpox is very contagious and spreads more easily than monkeypox. People with monkeypox are more likely to have swollen lymph nodes than people with chickenpox.

The rashes act differently too. While the chickenpox rash can appear in waves, monkeypox sores develop at the same time. Chickenpox symptoms — including the rash — tend to get better within two weeks, while it takes two to four weeks for monkeypox to resolve.

Monkeypox vs. smallpox

Smallpox and monkeypox are both part of the orthopoxvirus family, so they’re caused by similar but distinct viruses. Thanks to effective vaccines, smallpox was eradicated (is no longer a circulating disease) by 1980. Smallpox was very contagious and spread more easily than monkeypox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to but milder than smallpox symptoms.

Key facts

• Vaccines used during the smallpox eradication programme also provided protection against monkeypox. Newer vaccines have been developed of which one has been approved for prevention of monkeypox

• Monkeypox is caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.

• Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting from 2 to 4 weeks. Severe cases can occur. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 3–6%.

• Monkeypox is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus.

• Monkeypox virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding.

• Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and west Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.

• An antiviral agent developed for the treatment of smallpox has also been licensed for the treatment of monkeypox.

• The clinical presentation of monkeypox resembles that of smallpox, a related orthopoxvirus infection which was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. Monkeypox is less contagious than smallpox and causes less severe illness.

• Monkeypox typically presents clinically with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications.

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References:
-World Health Organization (WHO)
-Mayo Clinic
-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
-Cleveland Clinic