Friday, March 29, 2024 | 19:42 WIB

Monkeypox, a new global health emergency

READ MORE

Jakarta, IO – The first case of monkeypox was reported in the UK on 6 May 2022. By 27 July, no fewer than 75 countries have diagnosed carriers of the disease, with a current total of 17,156 cases. Since 23 July 2022, the WHO declared the monkeypox as a global health emergency. 

“There has been an exponential increase in the outbreak since July 2022, which caused 5 deaths. The top 10 sufferers are: the UK, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, the US, and Brazil. Monkeypox has also been reported in our neighboring countries, i.e. in Singapore (8 cases) and Australia (41),” said dr. Mohammad Syahril, Sp.P, MPH, Spokesman for the Ministry of Health, in the “Development of Monkeypox Cases in Indonesia” press conference held on Wednesday (27/07/2022). 

In general, 99.5% of sufferers are male, with an age average of 37. 60% (1,214 out of the 2025 observed cases occurs in promiscuous gay, bisexual, and closeted males who have sexual relations with other males. About 41% (335 out of 827 cases) of the responded tested for HIV are found to be HIV positive. 

“WHO declares a case to be ‘confirmed’ monkeypox if the results of the PCR and/or sequencing tests are positive, ‘suspected’ if there are acute rashes with unusual causes and no other apparent skin diseases. Other symptoms include headaches, fevers higher than 38.5o Celsius, myalgia, swelling of neck glands, backaches. It is ‘probable’ if the patient has a history of intimate contact and a trip to endemic countries of the disease at most 21 days before symptoms show, positive serology result; and ‘discarded’ if the PCR and/or sequencing result is negative,” dr. Syahril said. 

POPULAR

Latest article

Related Articles

INFRAME

SOCIAL CULTURE