Monkeypox General
Current number of infections: 971
>What is monkeypox?
Monkeypox is a virus similar to smallpox. There is West African monkeypox and Central African monkeypox - the current outbreak is West African, the Central African monkeypox is much more serious and deadly. The virus has been endemic to Africa for decades, with increasing cases recently (as high as 18,000 cases total in recent years)
>Will monkeypox kill me?
No, very low probability. No deaths have occurred so far during this outbreak, as of June 4th, 2022.
Historically, West African monkeypox has a fatality rate ranging from 1 to 6% (these estimates vary)
So far, this outbreak is presenting differently than typical monkeypox - it does not seem to have the historic fatality rate.
For reference, chickenpox has a fatality rate of ~1 per 100,000 in children (0.001%) and ~21 per 100,000 in adults (0.021%); a fatality rate of even 1% would make it 1000x more deadly than chickenpox
>How does monkeypox present?
Historically, monkeypox has presented as large spots / rash, that turn to blisters, that turn to pustules, that scab over - when these scabs heal the person is no longer contagious. Historically, monkeypox presented with blisters on the face, arms, hands, chest, groin. This current monkeypox outbreak appears to be presenting slightly differently - it seems to be more limited to the groin, with the sores looking more like a spider bite than huge pustules. However, many are still presenting with blisters on their arms. Symptoms of monkeypox are similar to the flu - chills, fatigue, fever, headache, etc.
>What are the treatments for monkeypox?
Currently there is an antiviral treatment produced by SIGA technologies (TPOXX), there is also a smallpox vaccine produced by Bavarian Nordic to be given to those at high risk / close contact to those infected. There are other treatments recently receiving patents, but as of now, these are the two main treatments.
