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Mahesh

26/07/22 21:06 PM IST

WHO declares monkey pox public health emergency of international concern

In News 
  • The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
  • PHEIC is the highest level of alert the global health body can issue. Only polio and SARS-CoV-2 were ongoing PHEIC prior to monkeypox. 
Monkey Pox 
  • Monkeypox is not a new disease like Covid-19, which emerged in 2019.
  • The first monkeypox infection in a was identified human in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a nine-month-old boy. Most infections initially were caused by interaction of humans and animals in rural, rainforest regions of the Congo basin.
  • Monkeypox is a self-limiting viral infection, with symptoms lasting 2–4 weeks. The case fatality ratio ranges between 0 and 11%.
  • The most common symptoms include fever, headache, muscle ache, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes, along with rashes that last for 2–3 weeks.
  • The monkeypox virus belongs to the same family of orthopoxviruses as smallpox, now eradicated.
  • Orthopoxviruses are cross-reactive, meaning that existing smallpox vaccines and therapeutics can be used for monkeypox.
Source- Indian Express 

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