24 May, 2022 | 13:57

Should Kazakhstan Worry About Monkeypox?

All we know about the disease outbreak and four recommendations from Chief Sanitary Doctor

By Gleb Klimenko

Reuters; Science.org

Monkeypox has been making headlines in recent days, pushing any lingering concerns for coronavirus into the shadows, at least for now. As always there are many conflicting stories out there. Some say it's bad, some say it's no big deal. So who do we believe? QazMonitor is here to set the facts straight and answer the burning question: should Kazakhstan be worried about monkeypox?

Good news first

Fortunately, as of today, not a single case of suspected monkeypox has been registered in Kazakhstan. This is reported by the press service of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan, Azattyq Rýhy reports.

"Sanitary and quarantine control are carried out in places where people cross the state border. Measures are taken to detect (to prevent importation) on the state border of a patient with suspected - especially dangerous - disease using remote thermometry."

Aizhan Yesmagambetova, Vice-Minister of Healthcare, Chief Sanitary Doctor of Kazakhstan

Is monkeypox like coronavirus?

Not at all. It belongs to a completely different category of viruses. Monkeypox is a DNA virus, while COVID is an RNA one. What matters about it is that when COVID duplicates itself, there is a much bigger chance for it to mutate, compared to monkeypox. This kind of stable 'error correction' mechanism means that the vaccine for monkeypox is unlikely to become ineffective.

Here is a brief overview of the disease:

Monkeypox (monkeypoxes - MPXV) is a rare infectious disease characterized by fever, general intoxication and the appearance of exanthema (redness). The incubation period is from 5 to 21 days. In humans, the clinic is characterized by high fever, body aches, weakness, rash, vomiting, enlarged lymph nodes, and dizziness. Duration of the disease is 2-3 weeks and spontaneous recovery is typical.

The main source of the disease in monkeypox is wild animals - primates and rodents (squirrels). Infection can also occur by contact with blood or body fluids of an infected person, or by eating meat from a diseased animal.

Monkey pox is now common in countries in West Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gabon and South Sudan). The number of cases in Africa is growing rapidly, with a 20-fold increase since 2016, according to official sources. The largest outbreaks have been reported in Nigeria and Congo.

If you want to dig deeper, we recommend you this video by Dr. Zubin Damania , MD, a UCSF/Stanford-trained hospital doctor:

What do we know about the outbreak?

On May 20, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 1,200 cases of monkeypox have been reported in Congo since the beginning of the year. According to preliminary WHO data, 110 cases have been reported worldwide outside Africa in 14 countries (Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia, Netherlands, USA, Israel, France, Switzerland and Sweden). On May 24, the UAE has announced the first case of monkeypox. The case was detected in a 29-year-old woman who arrived from West Africa.

The outbreak is being actively investigated. On May 19, the first draft genome sequence of monkeypox virus, from a swab of a confirmed Portugal case of the current outbreak was released. The research team then quickly performed phylogenetic analysis of the virus. In doing so, they found that the 2022 virus belongs to the West African clade, GEN reports. Indeed, the West African strain has now been confirmed in at least six of the cases in the recent outbreak. The analysis also suggests that the virus circulating in the outbreak is most closely related to viruses associated with the exportation of the monkeypox virus from Nigeria to several countries—the United Kingdom, Israel, and Singapore—in 2018 and 2019.

Should we go bananas about it?

The Chief Sanitary Doctor of Kazakhstan gives the following recommendations for those traveling to foreign countries in connection with the beginning of summer vacations and the vacation season:

1. Refrain from visiting (especially with children) the countries of West Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gabon and South Sudan), where outbreaks of monkeypox have been registered;

2. In case of traveling to foreign countries, avoid contact with wild animals (primates, rodents), avoid eating in spontaneous and street trading places, eat only thoroughly heat-treated meat (products);

3. When visiting crowded places use personal preventive measures (distancing, masks, antiseptics), respect hand hygiene;

4. If after returning from trips within 3 weeks you feel sickness, fever, rash (redness, blisters, etc.) - urgently contact the nearest medical organization, be sure to report your stay abroad.

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