Monkey pox: what new symptoms of Monkeypox are often confused with other diseases? – The Independent

Monkeypox does not necessarily present itself as written in the books. American scientists are sounding the alarm. For the first time in history, the world is facing an epidemic of Monkeypox. A disease that scientists know well since the first case was recorded in 1970. The “classic” smallpox vaccine is also intended to be 85% effective against monkeypox. Nevertheless, the scientific community is surprised by the simultaneous outbreak of the disease in the four corners of the world. With the bar of 1,000 cases which was exceeded on Monday. “Such a geographical distribution suggests that widespread human-to-human transmission is currently underway,” said Dr Maria van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday. Stranger, on the whole, the cases are not linked to each other or linked to a common place or activity. Health officials therefore don’t know where people get it and many cases go undiagnosed, scientists conclude in two studies released last Thursday. Which point to shortcomings in terms of detection. If the disease is known, in fact, symptoms seem to be misinterpreted. Especially the rashes which “do not necessarily look like what the medical textbooks show”, according to Donald Vinh, of McGill University in Montreal. To read also: Monkey pox: “The current figures are very probably underestimated” in France fears an infectiologist Monkeypox, herpes or syphilis? These textbooks indeed represent blisters all over the body filled with pus. But “in fact, some patients have only one or two small lesions that can easily be confused with lesions caused by several sexually transmitted diseases, such as herpes and syphilis”. “I think it’s actually supercritical,” Vinh says, “because you can see how these patients can be missed. But they’re still contagious and can spread the disease.” In addition, monkeypox is usually a disease that manifests in two phases. The first is similar to flu-like symptoms. The second to this famous rash all over the body. However, many cases do not correspond to the description of the literature. In particular these eruptions finally localized to certain regions of the body, in particular the genitals. With one or two lesions, no more. “Sometimes it’s not even a pox,” Vinh told our National Public Radio colleagues, “but rather an ulcer or a crater.” And it can be “very painful” according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States).