The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. Yesterday (24 July) there were two new cases of monkeypox in Singapore.
A 46-year-old Estonian man entered London on the 21st of this month, after which he developed symptoms, including a groin rash, fever, and swollen lymph nodes, sought medical treatment on the 23rd and was diagnosed on the 24th.
The 26-year-old Singaporean man is a native case, who also has a groin rash and rashes on other parts of the body, and was confirmed on the 24th.
The two are currently in stable medical care at the National Infectious Disease Center.
Singapore's health minister, Wang Yikang, said on Monday (July 25) that as of Monday, four imported and four local monkeypox cases had been detected, for a total of eight cases in Singapore. These cases were quickly isolated. But there is no evidence at this stage that they are spreading the infection to others in the community.
The Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) has also quarantined their close contacts for up to 21 days since their last exposure, while lower-risk contacts are monitored by telephone surveillance. Typically, each case may produce three to four close contacts who need to be quarantined, unlike COVID-19, which may produce up to 20 quarantine orders.
As of now, given the self-limiting nature of the disease, the Ministry of Health does not recommend mass vaccination of monkeypox for the entire population, but will continue to monitor the situation closely.
Monkeypox is usually a self-limiting disease that manifests as fever and rash. However, serious complications or death can occur in some people.
Monkeypox survivors recall the course of the disease
Still palpitating
Agence France-Presse reported on the poignant memories of a monkeypox recoverer in New York.
Recalling the onset, Kyle Planck, a 26-year-old pharmacology phD student, said: "I've never felt such pain. ”
(Source: Kyle Facebook)
Kyle said that because he often mixed in gay and bisexual circles, when the news came this spring that monkeypox cases in Europe and the United States began, he kept his mind and paid special attention to the development.
He worries that sooner or later, the monkeypox epidemic will spread on a large scale in Europe and the United States, especially in the circle of "men and women".
By the end of June, Kyle began to have fever and swollen lymph nodes, and he went to test for coronary disease, and the result was negative, he thought, this time it was bad, probably monkey pox.
The doctor asked him to observe for a few days to see how the condition developed. After four days of fever, a rash began to appear on his body, and he knew that it was monkeypox.
(Lesions of monkeypox often appear on the palms of the hand.)
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
At first, the rash only appeared on his arms and palms. But, in just one day, it spread throughout his body, and he counted about 30 rashes.
On 5 July, Kyle began treatment for monkeypox, starting with a TPOXX tricovirus inhibitor.
In general, monkeypox is a self-limiting disease that resolves within two or three weeks, but can be extremely painful at the onset of the disease.
Kyle said that in the week of his illness, he felt a lot of pain before the drugs began to work, especially in the mucous membranes.
"I can only take a bath in warm water six or seven times a day, and that's the only way to reduce the pain a little," Kyle says.
He said he was exhausted and psychologically stressed after a illness because he was worried about passing it on to his roommates, even though he knew monkeypox would have to be in close contact for long periods of time to spread.
Kyle believes that because he can get treatment, the condition is "relatively mild", and many other patients have experienced "much worse than me".
He said U.S. health agencies were too slow to respond to the monkeypox outbreak and failed to provide timely warning; "The government seems to be waiting for the outbreak to occur before deciding how to respond."
Kyle said he had written to several elected officials asking the government to arrange for the use of TPOXX Tkovirus inhibitors as soon as possible.
Agence France-Presse reported that there are 100 million doses of the ACAM2000 vaccine to prevent smallpox in the United States, which can also be used to prevent monkeypox, but has serious side effects and is not recommended for people with congenital immunocompromise.
At present, only 1,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine can be put into use, which is newer and safer, but 800,000 doses remain in Denmark and are still waiting for approval by the US authorities to import.
New York has seen 711 cases of monkeypox, the highest incidence in the United States. At present, New York has received 21,500 doses of vaccine, and more than 25,000 doses should arrive in the near future.
Outside the clinic, there is a long queue of people waiting to be vaccinated.
(Source: Kyle Facebook)
Kyle said, "I really don't want anyone else to experience the pain I once had. ”
WHO has announced PHEIC seven times
Four outbreaks are over
There are still three outbreaks underway
WHO has so far declared seven "PHEIC Public Health Emergencies of International Concern", namely:
• 2009 swine flu outbreak
• Ebola outbreak in 2014
• 2014 polio/polio outbreak
• 2016 Zika outbreak
• Ebola outbreak in 2019
• COVID-19 2020
• Monkeypox outbreak in 2022
Among them, the polio epidemic in 2014, the new crown epidemic in 2020, and the monkeypox epidemic in 2022 are still in progress.
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