The virus can also be spread by touching or sharing infected objects such as clothing and bedding, or respiratory droplets released when sneezing or coughing. According to WHO
That sounds oddly familiar because in the early days of the pandemic, many experts said the coronavirus was also less transmissible from person to person than by respiratory droplets and contaminated surfaces. Subsequent research showed that the coronavirus could be spread through much smaller particles called aerosols with the ability to travel long distances. more than six feet. But that doesn’t mean the same will be true of the monkeypox virus, said Luis Sigal, a smallpox expert at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Coronavirus is a small single-stranded RNA virus that may have aided its ability to enter the air. However, the monkeypox virus is composed of double-stranded DNA, which means the virus itself is larger, heavier and cannot travel far, Dr. Sigal said.
Other routes of transmission of smallpox in monkeys include from mother to fetus through the placenta or through close contact during and after birth.
The majority of cases this year have been in young men, many of whom self-identify as men who have sex with men, although experts caution that monkeypox transmission may be possible. occurs through semen or other body fluids exchanged during sex. Instead, exposure to infected lesions during sex may be a more reasonable route. Dr Andy Seale, an advisor to the WHO HIV, Hepatitis and STIs Programme, said in a Q&A session on Monday. “Anyone can get monkeypox from close contact.”
What are the symptoms and severity of monkeypox infection?
Monkeypox is part of the same family of viruses as smallpox, but it is usually a much milder condition, according to the CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, symptoms appear within six to 13 days of exposure, but it can take up to three weeks. People who get sick often experience fever, headache, back and muscle pain, swollen lymph nodes, and exhaustion.
About one to three days after developing a fever, most people also develop a painful rash, which is characteristic of poxvirus. It starts with flat red spots that become raised and filled with pus over the next 5 to 7 days. The rash may begin on the face, hands, feet, inside the mouth or on the genitals of the patient, and progress to the rest of the body. (Although chickenpox causes a similar-looking rash, it is not an actual poxvirus but is caused by an unrelated varicella-zoster virus.)
After an individual’s pustules crust over, in two to four weeksthey are no longer contagious, says Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Foundation for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
