Written by Shazrina Sofia
Edited by Alissya Nazir
What the infection looks like on human skin | Credits: World Health Organization
THAILAND, 25th August 2024: This week, Thailand has reported its first case of monkeypox in which the case is of a more dangerous variant.
According to Thailand's Department of Disease Control, the new Clade 1b variant is brought into the country by a European tourist from Africa. The new variant– spreading rapidly through close contact, especially amongst children– has resulted in higher mortality rates and is more severe in nature.
In recent times, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox as a global health emergency and it is highly likely for the virus to reach international borders.
Since the minor outbreak in 2022, other countries such as Indonesia, the US and India reported surging cases of monkeypox amongst their citizens as well, while deaths reached 500 and cases exceeded 16000 in the Dominican Republic of Congo. Likewise, there have been 38465 cases and 1456 deaths in total in Africa.
Malaysia has only 9 reported cases of monkeypox since July 2023, in which the last one was dated back in November 2023 with no deaths. On 20th August, the Deputy Health Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni clarified how no plans have been made for monkeypox vaccination in Malaysia. He also detailed that the nation's borders and immigration checkpoints have started to take precautionary measures.
Monkeypox can spread via human-to-human contact (touching, talking and sexual intercourse) and animal-to-human contact (bites and scratches from certain monkeys and rodent species or the consumption of contaminated animal meat). Symptoms of monkeypox include rashes lasting for two weeks up to a month that are accompanied by fever, headaches, swollen lymph nodes and muscle pain.
Experts claim that the best way to prevent the monkeypox infection is via vaccination. —TBC
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