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As people still encounter problems with the COVID outbreak’s wavering statistics, cases of monkeypox have continued to rise — especially in Illinois.
Currently, health officials have related Monkeypox to the eradicated form of the smallpox virus. Generally causing blister-like sores and lesions along with flu-like symptoms the virus has only increased due to the low amount of vaccines readily available. Contrary to public opinions on the recipients of the virus, it is not just a sexually transmitted disease. Unlike COVID-19 the virus serves no severe threat to older patients, however, it has been proven to be fatal to children and newborns due to its relation to chickenpox.
However, with the rate of testing and vaccines only administered to those who already have the virus, and may have already spread it further. Health official Dr. Anthony Fauci blames the U.S.’s lax handling of the problem for its persistent climb in numbers. As such “making some of the same mistakes” when COVID-19 started.
“This is something we need to take seriously. We don’t know the scope and potential of it yet, but we have to act like it will have the capability of spreading much more widely than it’s spreading right now,” the current US director of the National Insitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Cases of monkeypox come from close contact, mainly contact with a person’s blisters or sores, items that are contaminated with saliva or fluid from open sores, and respiratory droplets or close sexual contact. Despite it not having the impactful airborne trait similar to COVID-19, monkeypox is still contagious through residual clothing, crowded trains, and gym equipment if the proper measures to sanitize areas that have come in contact with open sores are not taken.
Although most cases find that monkeypox spreads much easier through sexual intercourse officials like commissioner Dr. Allison Ardway explicitly shut down the rumors of it only affecting gay men.
“Here’s nothing inherent in the biology of the virus that limits it to men who have sex with men. The virus spreads through tight-knit social networks; it does not discriminate.”
Cases have been shown in both children, adults, and even fetuses’ of pregnant women. Adverse effects of a pregnant woman contracting monkeypox can result in the fetus contracting the virus, which may lead to spontaneous miscarriages or stillbirths, along with preterm delivery.
Written by Brielle R. Buford
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Sources
CNN: As Fauci warns monkeypox needs to be taken more seriously, former FDA commissioner says the window to control it ‘probably has closed’
NBC Chicago: ‘It Does Not Discriminate’: Chicago Monkeypox Cases Rise, Officials Urge Precautions
CDC: Clinical Consideration for Monkeypox in People Who are Pregnant or Breastfeeding
Top and Featured by Dean Calma Courtesy of IAEA Imagebank‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons
Inset Image Courtesy of Maryland GovPics‘ Flickr Page – Creative Commons