Monkeypox

 The WHO has declared Monkeypox a global health emergency as infection rises. The disease has spread to dozens of countries within a few weeks and has infected thousands of people. General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director General of WHO has said that the outbreak has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission about which there is too little to understand and which meets the criteria. 

Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic infection caused by the monkeypox virus and it spreads mostly from human contact. The Health Minister for the state of Kerala has said that a there is a 35 year old man who is undergoing treatment after returning from the UAE. The multidisciplinary central team of officials has been already deployed by the Union Health Ministry. 

So far, 16,000 cases of monkeypox and five deaths have been reported from 60 WHO member countries. The WHO has said that it is declaring it a health emergency as it is essential that all countries work closely to design and deliver effective information and services to combat monkeypox.

There is currently no specific treatment for the virus and the patients who have contracted the virus are treated in a specialist hospital so that the infection does not spread to others and general symptoms can be treated.