Abstract

The declaration of a disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization is not new to the world. Since 2007, the WHO has declared six PHEICs, the first one for the H1N1 in 2009 and the sixth one for COVID-19 in 2020, After that within a period of two years, 2022- 2024 mpox was declared a PHEIC two times, the first one in July 2022 and the second in August 2024. As the mpox virus was found in monkeys as early as 1958, it was called monkey pox and then after detecting it among human beings, the first case found out in 1970, it was called mpox. The spread of mpox was only here and there up to the end of May 2022. After that, it becomes a multicountry and -continental disease though both the outbreaks occurred first in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As on 21st August 2024 it spread over 122 countries. It affected 27,000 people and killed more than 1,100 persons including children and pregnant women in the DRC alone. There are two clades and two sub-clades, thus four sub-forms, ‘Ia’, ‘Ib’, ‘IIa’ and ‘IIb’. Among these four forms ‘Ib’ is more serious and dangerous than other forms. The ‘IIb’ clade is the cause for the first outbreak while the ‘Ib’ is the cause for the second outbreak. Infections occur only when there is a physical contact with persons affected by the virus or with respiratory droplets or oral fluids or when one touches contaminated objects with the virus. It also spreads from animals to humans. The usual symptoms of mpox are: a) painful rashes all over the body, particularly in the palms and feet; 2) enlarged lymph nodes; and 3) there are symptoms like fever, headache, muscle ache, and back pain, and a feeling of low energy apart from symptoms like chills and exhaustion. The cure is automatic, last only 2-4 weeks. A few may require hospitalization. Children and pregnant women are at high risk of infection apart from healthcare workers and sexual workers. There is no medicine to cure it, but smallpox vaccine can be applied to control the spread. However the stock of it is almost zero as smallpox is declared eradicated in 1980.So one can avoid the infection of mpox only by taking a few precautionary steps

Keywords

public health emergency of international concern, pandemics, monkey pox, smallpox, poxvirus, rashes and fever.