Monkeypox

By Dr. Stephen A. Berger   Cynomolgus monkey, a known reservoir of the Monkeypox virus   WHAT IS MONKEYPOX? Monkeypox, as the name implies, is a disease of monkeys (unlike chickenpox – which has no relation to chickens). Although the condition is reported in a group of eleven African countries, the virus was first discovered in a laboratory in Denmark in 1958, when it was first isolated from cynomolgus monkeys. The signs and symptoms are similar to those of smallpox. Following a three-day prodrome of fever, headache, myalgia, and back pain, patients develop a papular rash in the face, extremities, and genitals. The rash then spreads outward to involve the face, with lesions evolving into umbilicated pustules.  Unlike smallpox, death from monkeypox is relatively uncommon – five-to-ten percent. This 1997 image was created during an investigation into an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and depicts the palms of a monkeypox case-patient. It is important to note how similar this maculopapular rash appears to be when compared to the rash of smallpox, also an Orthopoxvirus. Image courtesy of CDC/Dr. Brian W.J.Mahy NOTABLE OUTBREAKS During the single year of 1967, almost eleven thousand cases occurred in West and Central Africa.  The most unusual outbreak of monkeypox occurred in 2003 when 81 humans in the American Midwest were infected through contact with infected prairie dogs – themselves infected by rodents that had been imported from ...
Source: GIDEON blog - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Epidemiology News Source Type: blogs