Monkeypox virus: Should we worry or ignore it?

This time, the name of the virus is monkeypox and 80 cases have been detected in 11 countries, including England, so far.

So what’s really going on? Is there something we need to worry about or are we worrying too much while we’re just getting past Covid?

Let’s be clear, this is not a new Covid and quarantine measures are not on the horizon.

But this is an unusual and unprecedented epidemic of monkeypox. What happened to people who specialize in this disease was also a surprise. It’s always a concern when a virus changes the way it behaves.

Until recently, monkeypox was a predictable virus.

The virus is found in the bodies of wild animals. Although it is called monkeypox, it is actually seen in rodents.

Someone wandering through the rainforests of West or Central Africa came into contact with an infected animal and contracted it. Fluid-filled blisters form on the skin of the infected person, which then crust over.

The virus, which goes out of its natural habitat by infecting humans, has difficulty in spreading. Long and close contact is required for this to happen. For this reason, epidemics are narrow-framed and disappear on their own.

Few cases have been identified before. It was immediately determined that these people caught the virus from the person from which country they came from.

It is not clear from whom the virus spread.

Monkeypox is transmitted during sexual intercourse and in most cases, lesions are seen in the genital area.

Most of the detected cases are bisexual or gay men.

“This is a new situation, which is both surprising and alarming,” says Professor Peter Horby of the University of Oxford.

Professor Horby, an expert on epidemics, says this is not a “second Covid”, but that “action is needed” to prevent the virus from gaining momentum.

Doctor Hugh Adler, a person who has treated cases of monkeypox, agrees with Professor Horby, saying, “This is not a process we’ve seen before, it’s a surprise.”