Yesterday, the Maryland Department of Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC reported the second infection case with the Monkeypox virus, triggering questions over the disease and its consequences.
According to official reports, this Maryland case is the second in the US for 2021, and the infected individual has arrived recently from Nigeria, the West African country where the virus has been infecting people for many years.
Maryland reports that 1 person has tested positive for monkeypox after traveling from Nigeria. This is the 2nd case in the U.S. this year pic.twitter.com/JWs49NUAa8
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) November 17, 2021
Maryland officials explained that people who have been in contact with the infected person have been notified and are undergoing testing, but none has tested positive so far.
Online, people got busy asking about the Monkeypox virus, its symptoms, and whether or not it poses a threat to human lives. Fears of new viral infections and epidemics have been on the rise in recent years, particularly after the spread of COVID19 which has been causing a global emergency since December 2019.
Say what now.. pic.twitter.com/fq70Tm8jGE
— SuzeQKnits (@SuzeQKnits) November 17, 2021
Experts have since been reassuring people that the Monkeypox is not a dangerous disease and that it belongs to the same group of viruses as the Smallpox, causing only a mild infection that can be easily treated without compromising peoples' lives.
In humans, the symptoms of monkeypox are similar to but milder than the symptoms of smallpox. Monkeypox begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion. The main difference between symptoms of smallpox and monkeypox is that monkeypox causes lymph nodes to swell
— DevilEmoji🐂 (@DevilEmoji2) November 17, 2021
The Monkeypox virus spreads through direct contact with infected people. It causes flu-like symptoms and lymph nodes swelling, in addition to various skin rashes. Infections typically last from 2 to 4 weeks.
Experts have been studying the virus in West and Central African countries for years but the virus is not likely to cause a worldwide pandemic.
