What is Monkeypox and How Serious is It?

Monkeypox is a disease named because it was first discovered in laboratory monkeys. The disease is likened to Smallpox, which ran rampant in the United States for many years until a vaccination was discovered for it. The difference is that the Monkeypox is not nearly as infectious as the smallpox in the 1950's and before. Monkeypox is most often found in places that are very remote corners of the world where there is little medical treatment available. There have been reported cases of monkeypox in the United States, though those cases are very limited. The problem that we now have is to find a cure for this disease. Any disease that starts, even in the remotest areas of the world, can be carried back to other countries where an outbreak could occur. Finding a cure for it now is important to keeping it under control if there is such an outbreak.

It must be understood that the H1N1 virus (swine flu) was not a problem in the United States until someone carried it back here. That is how these things happen and we have to work on finding ways to stop it before it does become an epidemic. Although monkeypox doesn't appear to be a deadly disease except in the cases of those in the remotest parts of the world, it has great potential to bring an entire country to a halt. Consider the fact that the monkeypox can last between 2 to 4 weeks before it is gone. That is a long time for a student not to go to school or an employee not to go to work. If there were an epidemic of this sort, it could create disastrous results for the economy, among other things.

Monkeypox is in the same category as smallpox and cowpox. Smallpox was a horrendous disease that killed thousands of people before it was finally ended with the vaccine. It might be wise to consider looking for a vaccine that would do that same to lower our risks for getting Monkeypox. The fatality rate for those who get smallpox is relatively low. Even in remote Africa, only 10% of people who contract it die of it. Though this is probably an extremely high number of people as compared with the number of people who actually live there, that would be a very low number for other parts of the world. 10% is far too high in any case. If there is a possibility of it, then we have to be aware and make changes wherever possible to keep it from occurring on a much higher level than it is already happening.

Monkeypox would most often be spread from an animal who has it after biting or when open lesions might come in contact with an open lesion. Human to human contact such as airborne human body fluids is usually the cause when it comes to this type of infection. It is still much less infectious than the smallpox according to medicinenet.com.

People in the United States don't have a lot to worry about Monkeypox at this time. There are very few cases at this time. The problem is, again, if someone begins to spread it without being careful. There are far too many infectious diseases in the world today and we are taking far too many antibiotics to get rid of them. There comes a time that the antibiotics and the vaccinations will no longer work against such things. We saw such a case in the swine flu epidemic not that long ago. The vaccinations that we already had for the flu didn't work well on the swine flu. What is to say that we will be able to fight it if there is a large scale outbreak of Monkeypox in the future?