Health experts around the world are working to reduce the burden and slow down the monkeypox outbreak, after the World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the disease a global health emergency.
Although this is a rare condition, the numbers have been steadily increasing since May. Experts are not only trying to raise public awareness, they are also trying to use vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat this virus.
How the disease is diagnosed
If monkeypox is suspected, health workers should collect an adequate sample and transport it safely to a laboratory with adequate capacity.
Confirmation of monkeypox depends on the type and quality of the sample and the type of laboratory test. Therefore, samples must be packaged and shipped in accordance with national and international requirements.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the preferred laboratory test due to its accuracy and sensitivity. For this, the optimal diagnostic specimens for monkeypox are skin lesions: the roof or fluid of vesicles and pustules, and dried scabs. When feasible, biopsy is an option.
Lesion samples should be stored in a dry, sterile tube (no viral transport media) and kept cold.
What are the symptoms of monkeypox?
The symptoms of monkeypox tend to be mild and are generally not life-threatening for most, however the pain and disability associated with it can be severe.
Symptoms include a rash and flu-like symptoms that may appear several weeks after the initial infection. Furthermore, lymphadenopathy or enlarged lymph nodes also appear after upper respiratory symptoms.
In some cases, people may only experience a rash and no flu symptoms at all.
Although the classic symptoms of monkeypox include raised pox or enlarged pimples all over the body, with this current outbreak the symptoms may be more discreet.
Skin lesions can be in various areas of the body. In the current outbreak, doctors have seen lesions on the face, hands, feet, chest, genitals, buttocks, and sometimes inside the mouth, as this virus is spread primarily through close contact. , which includes sexual or intimate contact.
What treatment options are available?
There are no definitive treatments for monkeypox that have been shown to be effective in people who acquire the virus; however, there are drugs that have the potential to show promise in severe cases.
Most cases of monkeypox resolve with the use of over-the-counter medications alone for symptomatic care. However, more severe cases can be treated with an antiviral drug called TPOXX. Although this drug is available, it is not directly approved for monkeypox.
Tecovirimat was approved in 2018 for the treatment of smallpox in adults and children, but has not been directly studied in monkeypox. Clinical trials in animals have shown some efficacy in the treatment of all diseases caused by orthopoxviruses, including monkeypox.
Several doctors have found that obtaining this drug can be difficult as they had to go through a lengthy process to get it from the United States stockpile for their patients.
