More than 700 people in the United States have been infected with monkeypox virus. Will monkeypox become the next pandemic virus?

2022 is destined to be a year that is not peaceful in the whole world. Various epidemics, one wave is not settled, one wave after another!

Here, the wave of the COVID-19 virus has receded a little, but another virus has followed. Since May this year, multiple cases of monkeypox virus infection have been confirmed in many countries around the world. Although the monkeypox virus has been around for decades, the people suffering from monkeypox were mainly distributed in Africa before, and the countries outside Africa were very It is rare. At present, monkeypox virus is spreading around the world. According to statistics, more than 700 people in the United States have been infected with monkeypox virus!

This has to make us vigilant, will monkeypox become the next pandemic virus? It is estimated that the disease of monkeypox is still very unfamiliar to most netizens. Today we are going to talk about the sacredness of this monkeypox.

What is monkeypox? What is the fatality rate of monkeypox virus infection?

Monkeypox is an infectious disease caused by infection with monkeypox virus, which was first discovered and isolated from monkeys in 1958, hence the name monkeypox virus. . The monkey pox virus is named after the monkey, which actually makes the monkey bear the blame, because the monkey pox virus does not actually use monkeys as the main host, but rodents such as mice, squirrels, and rabbits .

Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease that invades the human body through the oropharynx, nasopharynx, and skin. The incubation period for infection is approximately 7-14 days, and can be as long as 21 days. After infection, symptoms similar to smallpox appear, such as prodromal symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, pharyngitis, profuse sweating, and swollen lymph nodes, etc., and then the patient will enter a rash phase, first on the oropharynx or face, and then on the extremities and Elsewhere on the body, the rash is characterized by pustules, with lesions up to 2-10mm in diameter.

I believe this is a problem that everyone is very concerned about. Since monkeypox is similar to smallpox, its fatality rate will naturally not be low. Earlier studies have reported that the mortality rate of infection with the virus can reach as high as 10%. Although the mortality rate has declined in recent years with the availability of vaccines, it is also 3%-6% according to recent reports. This number is also a very high probability for billions of people around the world, knowing that the mortality rate of contracting the COVID-19 virus is only 0.2%.

Will monkeypox be the next pandemic virus?

Although WHO Director-General Tedros said on July 6, local time, more than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 58 countries and regions around the world, of which more than 80% are from Europe, while the recent increase in cases in the United States seems to be relatively high. many,. Most of the monkeypox virus is prevalent in Africa, as it is currently on two continents, and it is rare to find cases successively in different countries, and there is no obvious intersection between many cases.

On January 22 this year, four monkeys were lost in the United States. After the loss, the American police warned ordinary people not to approach these monkeys. After they were caught, three of them were euthanized. It was too coincidental that news reports at the time warned that the monkeys could transmit viruses to humans, including monkeypox and herpes B.

But most scholars believe that monkeypox will not become the next pandemic virus, mainly for the following reasons.

1) The mortality rate of monkeypox is too high

From the characteristics of the virus, monkeypox virus is a DNA virus, and COVID-19 virus is an RNA virus. The two genes are different, so the transmission ability, host and mutation frequency of monkeypox virus are very different.

Viruses with high lethality are usually difficult to cause a pandemic, because the transmission chain of the virus is cut off when the host dies. In addition, the high fatality rate of monkeypox will definitely attract the attention of governments and people in various countries, and the attitude towards monkeypox virus will not choose to lie down like the COVID-19 virus.

2) Monkeypox has a ready-made vaccine to prevent and control it

Due to its early appearance, the monkeypox vaccine has long been available, but the virus has been in a state of demise over the years, and everyone has not paid much attention to vaccination. Today, the U.S. government has also urgently distributed 144,000 doses of vaccines to prevent monkeypox virus, and it is believed that with the vaccination, the virus will be quickly suppressed.

3) Humans’ ability to detect the virus has improved

Just like the nucleic acid test for the COVID-19 virus, the monkeypox virus can also be tested for nucleic acid. With our current nucleic acid detection capabilities, it is not difficult to conduct large-scale monkeypox virus nucleic acid detection, so it is easier for us to detect early and cut off the chain of transmission.

Epilogue

Of course, nothing is absolute, just like when the COVID-19 virus was discovered, most people would not have thought that it could cause a global pandemic for several years, so we still cannot take it lightly and remain vigilant , especially the recent increase in monkeypox cases in the United States. For some high-risk groups of monkeypox infection, it is best to get vaccinated in advance to prevent infection. -At the same time as the 19 epidemic, do a good job in the prevention and control of the monkeypox epidemic.

references:

[1] Xu Lui, Liang Zi. "Atypical" monkeypox epidemic [J]. Caixin Weekly, 2022(21):1.

[2] Li Xiaodi, Cao Wei, Li Taisheng. Reflections and suggestions on monkeypox outbreaks in non-endemic areas [J]. Chinese Journal of Medicine, 2022, 102(00):1-5.