Last Updated: December 20, 2022, 19:23 IST
The first case of another deadly virus known as the Monkeypox virus brought the beautiful city of London to its knees.
Whether or not the Monkeypox virus will pose another threat like the pandemic needs further research and observation.
After the disastrous Covid-19 pandemic that shook the world, last year on May 12 in 2021, the first case of another deadly virus known as the Monkeypox virus brought the beautiful city of London to its knees. Since the first case erupted in London, the Monkeypox virus has been spreading.
Monkeypox and dangers surrounding the virus:
A notable comparison has been made between the epidemiology, pathology, and clinical characteristics of the present outbreak and those of smallpox, a serious contagious illness that has historically been widespread for around 3,000 years.
When determining whether this epidemic of monkeypox could result in another worldwide pandemic like smallpox or influenza, experts found that some characteristics of the current outbreak were different from those of earlier outbreaks. More than 20,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been documented since May 2022 across several nations in Europe, America, Oceania, Asia, and Africa.
Whether or not the Monkeypox virus will pose another threat like the pandemic needs further research and observation. According to a research paper published in the Biosafety and Health journal, “Further observation is needed; although notable features like accelerated evolutions, new-emerging variants, transmission through close contact, the rapid expansion of confirmed cases in several countries, and limited anti-MPXV specific agents in clinics, the susceptible population are mainly limited to homosexuals,” sites the Economic Times.
In Africa
According to a recent University of Colorado Boulder study presented online in the journal Cell, an unknown family of viruses that is currently prevalent in wild African primates and known to cause lethal Ebola-like symptoms in certain monkeys is “poised for spillover” to people.
Although these arteriviruses are now thought to pose a serious threat to macaque monkeys, no human infections have been documented as of yet. Furthermore, it is unknown how the virus might affect individuals if it switched species. The global health community may, however, potentially prevent another pandemic by keeping an eye out for arteriviruses right away in both animals and people, scientists said
The bottom line
According to Sara Sawyer, a molecular, cellular, and developmental biology professor at CU Boulder, “We hope that by raising awareness of the viruses that we should be looking out for, we can get ahead of this so that if human infections begin to occur, we’re on it quickly.”
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