With 5 monkeypox deaths reported in 2022, most of them outside endemic areas, it is important to pay attention to the symptoms of the disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the total confirmed cases of monkeypox amounted to 23,620, including 23,276 in countries that have not historically reported the disease, and only 344 in countries that have historically reported it.
Also, the global map of the monkeypox outbreak 2022 revealed that the virus affected regarding 80 countries, including 73 countries that have not historically reported the disease, and only 7 have historically reported monkeypox.
On 23 July 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox to be a global outbreak and a public health emergency.
Latest monkeypox symptoms
Symptoms of monkeypox in the current wave differed from previous symptoms, with patients reporting new signs that were not previously associated with the virus.
Dr. Charu Dutt Arora, an infectious disease specialist and head of Ameri Health, revealed some of the signs that have emerged in newly infected monkeys.
And hindustantimes quoted an infectious disease specialist as saying that in this outbreak there were symptoms that did not appear in previous outbreaks, namely:
Rectal pain or bleeding
Bleeding from the anus
Genital lesion (around the anus)
Swelling in the penis
Typical flu-like symptoms
Pain during defecation
Swollen tonsils
She explained that the Health Security Agency in the United Kingdom had developed symptoms of the disease to include proctitis (rectal or anal bleeding or pain), considering that whoever suffers from it should be suspected of having monkeypox.
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) documented the study conducted at Guys and Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London on 197 positive patients between May and July 2022, most of whom had swelling of the penis, pain in the rectum and anus, bleeding and pain during defecation.
“It is important to know that most of them were bisexual or homosexual who actively engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse, and a few also had swollen tonsils, which is also uncommon for monkeypox,” Arora adds.
According to the latest update announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its website on July 29, 2022, symptoms of monkeypox include the following:
– Fever
– Headache
Muscle and back pain
Swollen lymph nodes
– goosebumps
– exhaustion
Respiratory symptoms (such as sore throat, nasal congestion, and cough)
A rash that is located on or near the genitals (penis, testicles, labia, vagina) or the anus, and it can also be on other areas such as the hands, feet, chest, face or mouth.
The rash can look like a pimple and may be painful or itchy.
Monkeypox deaths in 2022
There are 4 monkeypox deaths in countries that have not historically reported the disease, all recorded during July 2022, with one death in a country where the virus is endemic.
Brazil recorded the first death outside the countries where the virus is endemic, and so far it has recorded 1,066 confirmed infections and 13 suspected cases of infection with the virus.
Data from the Brazilian Ministry of Health shows that more than 98% of confirmed cases were of men who had sex with men.
Shortly following Brazil announced the death, the Spanish Ministry of Health confirmed the first death from the virus in Europe, and hours later announced a second death as a result of monkeypox.
According to the map of the American Center for Disease Control, there are 4,298 cases of HIV infection in Spain, and the Ministry of Health said that of the 3,750 patients, 120 or 3.2% were hospitalized and two died, without specifying the date of the second death.
In early August, India announced the first death from monkeypox in the southern state of Kerala, in a 22-year-old man who tested positive.
In total, 5 cases of monkeypox have been reported in India, including 4 in Kerala and one in Delhi.
Ghana, one of the endemic African countries, previously confirmed its first monkeypox death in June 2022, of a man in the East Upper de Country region who presented to a hospital with a history of fever and rash.
The total number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in Ghana has reached 34, more than 50% of which are within the Greater Accra region.
