In his decision last Saturday, Tedros said he was aware of the complexities and uncertainties surrounding the monkeypox outbreak in the world today. He finally established that state of emergency. Adhering to the views among the Committee Members and Advisors, as well as other factors in line with the International Health Regulations, Tedros then published the so-called Temporary Recommendations.

Recommendations are detailed differently for the four WHO member country groups. The first group is countries that have no history of monkeypox in humans or have not detected it in the last 21 days.

The second recommendation is for countries that have recently imported cases of the disease in their population or of human-to-human transmission, including in their population groups that are at high risk. It includes health surveillance and travel bans for certain individuals.

The third group is countries with known or suspected cases of zoonotic transmission (virus jumps from animals to humans) at present or in the past, those with cases of monkeypox in their animals — both now and in the past. Finally, the recommendation is addressed to countries that have the capacity to manufacture drugs.

Current Situation

According to data presented by the WHO Secretariat, so far this year until July 20, 14,533 confirmed and suspected cases have been reported from 75 countries in all six WHO work areas. The figure, which includes 3 deaths in Nigeria and 2 in the Central African Republic, is up from 3,040 cases from 47 countries as of early May.

Transmission occurs in many countries where monkeypox was not previously known, and the highest number of cases are currently reported in European and American countries. The majority of monkeypox cases recorded by the WHO have affected men who claim to be gay, bisexual, and other men who have multiple partners. Many cases are urban and clustered in social and sexual networks.

There was also a significant increase in cases in countries in West and Central Africa. Cases from this region have a different demographic profile than those observed in Europe and the Americas, where there are more infected women and children.

Clinical symptoms of monkeypox that appear in outbreaks outside Africa are generally mild and not widespread in the body. More often localized in the genital, perineal/perianal, or peri-oral areas. Usually also precede the symptoms of lymphadenopathy, fever, malaise, and pain in the wound.

The average incubation period of monkeypox is estimated to be 7.6 to 9.2 days based on observational data from the Netherlands, England, Northern Ireland, and the United States. A small number of cases come from among health workers.

However, this isn’t the first time WHO declared PHEIC. There had been six other similar PHEIC declarations in the past years.

• 2009 Swine flu
• 2014 Polio
• 2014 Ebola
• 2015 Zika
• 2018 K. Ebola
• 2019 COVID

Some of you might not realize it because at that time things didn’t escalate this big. Not all PHEICs become pandemics. But it’s the right precautionary step by WHO.

According to Faheem Younus, a Chief of Infectious Diseases from the University of Maryland UCH said that “COVID is peculiar because it is a novel viral strain, easily transmissible through the respiratory route, attacks a vital organ (lungs) and is deadly”. He also added,

If COVID is like a snake bite, Monkeypox is like bed bugs. Important and concerning, but not the same.

He reminded us to not fall for fear mongering about monkeypox because it is harder to transmit than COVID. Monkeypox is transmitted to humans through close contact with lesions and body fluids of infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus. Respiratory droplets can also transmit the virus, but only in rare cases. Transmission via droplet respiratory particles usually requires prolonged face-to-face contact.

What should we do now?

According to the tips from Harvard Health, there some steps that we can do to help stop this outbreak:

1. Recognize early symptoms

• Not like COVID, monkeypox often shows early symptoms that are flulike, including fatigue, fever, headache, and enlarged lymph nodes.
• After symptoms occur, the rash usually appears after a few days, changing from small flat spots to tiny blisters similar to chickenpox, then to larger, pus-filled blisters.
• The rash often starts on the face and then appears on the palms, arms, legs, and other parts of the body. If may show up near genitals if it’s is spread by sexual contact.

2. Take steps to stop the spread

• Anyone who has been diagnosed with monkeypox, or who suspects they might have it, should avoid close contact with others. Once the sores scab over, the infected person is no longer contagious.
• Health care workers and other caregivers should wear standard infection control gear, including gloves and a mask.
• In the current outbreak, many cases began with sores in the genital and rectal areas among men who have sex with men, so doctors suspect sexual contact spread the infection. As a result, experts are encouraging abstinence when monkeypox is suspected or confirmed.

3. Use vaccination to help break the chain

• Monkeypox is closely related to smallpox. People who received a smallpox vaccine in the past may have some protection from monkeypox.
• Stockpiled smallpox vaccinations and newer vaccines that can be used for monkeypox or smallpox are also available.

Ring vaccination

Monkeypox usually is contagious after symptoms begin, which can help limit its spread. One reason COVID-19 spread so rapidly was that people could spread it before they knew they had it.

This means it’s possible to vaccinate a “ring” of people around them rather than vaccinating an entire population. This selective approach is called ring vaccination.

Ring vaccination has been used successfully to contain smallpox and Ebola outbreaks. It may come in handy for monkeypox as well. Here’s how it works:

• As soon as a case of monkeypox is suspected or confirmed, the patient and their close contacts are interviewed to identify possible exposures.
• Vaccination is offered to all close contacts.
• Vaccination is also offered to those who had close contact with the infected person’s contacts.

Ideally, people should be vaccinated within four days of exposure.

It’s really good to stay vigilant, but let’s not get too anxious about monkeypox. We don’t need Google experts, fear-mongering, turning this into business, politicizing this virus, or stigmatizing any group. Stay Healthy!

The post Monkeypox Outbreak: Stay Vigilant but Let’s Not Get Too Anxious appeared first on Medika Life.

Women were left for months as men went on scouting or hunting jaunts, but the mental anguish of those in the cabins hasn’t, to my mind, been adequately documented. They did, however, come up with a word for this overwhelming psychological pain, cabin fever. Relinquishing it to only the snow-bound or isolated areas is a naive premise as we now see it in a new context, major cities.

“The COVID‐19 pandemic and prolonged confinement and isolation during lockdown measures have had a deleterious impact on the mental health of children and young people. During this last year, the social contexts for children and young people have been markedly different from what they will have experienced before. Indeed, they have been living through ‘the greatest confinement in history.’ Children and young people have been subject to disrupted education at school, college, and university, as well as hampered transition into training or the workforce for the first time.”

Apparently, cabin fever has infected the young and adults, and this is where it may do its most damage in the future. Having committed no crime and often with fluctuating rules for safety from infection, children and adults are subjected to periods of isolation and disruption of what we have come to know as our “normal” lives.

Today, normal is in flux and what the future holds is equally troubling in its uncertainty. This uncertainty aspect fuels the disturbing instances of stress-related behaviors we are seeing reported in homes, work settings, and even violence in transportation on planes and buses.

Matters are made that much worse when we are receiving conflicting messages from our health authorities about virus protection and masks, the need for isolation and lockdowns, and how long these imposed periods of segregation must last.

Anthropologists have established our need for community, free access to socialization, and the interactions that bring bonding and security. But this social aspect of our lives is at risk, and we are currently fighting against millennia of genetics. No matter how creative we may think we have become in substituting technology for human interaction, I doubt we have accomplished our goals.

Do we still, intrinsically, unconsciously crave the warmth of human skin, the smell of someone’s hair, the touch of fabric, or the beauty of the natural voice? Some have said we are victims of touch starvation, which is an apt way to describe our current state. It is exactly what we find in cabin fever.

The computer screen or cell facetime are pale substitutions for our human needs. It’s like trying to substitute water for cream in a recipe; it doesn’t work. Yes, it may seem like the thread of human need is being maintained, but is it really? Are we trying to evolve into something akin to the robots about which corporate America crows so much? How much are we losing in this process? Only time will tell.

What is the reason for the dramatic, expressed need for mental health services for our children at school or home? The need is more than urgent, as the CEO of the APA expressed it. “Children and adolescents have been especially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing higher rates of stress, anxiety, and fear. Social isolation, financial uncertainty, and disrupted routines place considerable stress on children and their families.”

I wonder if the extraordinary success of fantasy films worldwide is a means to quell the fear of children and adults alike; the hero always wins in the end. Obviously, it’s not wise to go to movie theaters, but many are now streamed.

Is this our modern-day version of Little Red Riding Hood, who manages to deceive the wolf or Hansel & Gretel in the witch’s clutches? Obviously, the wolf and the witch are metaphors for the current virus and the question of a safe world, as are the superheroes.

We are frantically seeking ways to soothe ourselves. Is it any wonder that people are scoffing at wearing masks and violating restrictions on going to social events? The need is so strong, and the time during which we have been denied seems to linger on.

How much longer can we tolerate it and maintain our sanity, or is a new vaccine the answer? Whatever it is, we are suffering in ways we will only realize in decades to come. No, I’m not a doomsday prognosticator. I think I’m being pragmatic.

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