Monkeypox: The New Public Health Emergency on the Block
“How bad is Monkeypox?” in 4 minutes.
On July 23rd, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the ongoing monkeypox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, following the unprecedented spread of the disease on a global scale.
As of today, over 21 thousand cases of monkeypox have been reported worldwide— according to the Global.health initiative. The vast majority of which occurred outside of the disease’s endemic regions of West and Central Africa, with Europe being the hardest hit region.
Monkeypox outbreaks in non-endemic countries are nothing new since their international debut in the United States back in 2003, however previous outbreaks had been easier to contain. After all, the disease is easily recognized and preventable.
Monkeypox, first identified in humans in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970, can be described as a more aggressive form of chickenpox. Patients typically present with skin eruptions within one to three days following the onset of flu-like symptoms such as fever, headaches and muscle pain — especially back pain. These skin lesions will concentrate on the face, hands, feet and mucosa (such as the mouth); and may be accompanied by swollen lymph nodes — a distinctive feature of monkeypox when…
