Monkey pox and chicken pox and smallpox. What are the Similarities? [WE EXPLAIN]

The monkey pox virus appears in more European countries, the latest reports say about the first case in Germany. The virus has also been found in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Is this disease as dangerous as smallpox, which was fought all over the world 42 years ago, and contagious as chickenpox? What do they have in common and how do they differ?

1. Monkey pox is a rare tropical zoonotic disease. In most cases, it is harmless 
2. Chicken pox, commonly known as an air rifle, is one of the most contagious ailments in childhood. There’s a vaccine for her. It dies quickly outside the human body. In adults, the course is more severe
3. The end of smallpox was announced in the world in 1980. It is a disease that leaves unsightly scars. It ends tragically in about 30 percent. sick
4. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

Monkey pox – new cases in Europe, Australia

Monkey pox, since its first case was confirmed in early May in Great Britain, has been detected in other European countries: Sweden, Belgium, Spain and France. Germany also joined this group on Friday, and Australia in the world.

Can these emerging cases be dangerous? As the virologist prof. Włodzimierz Gut, it depends on our behavior.

– Monkey pox appears from time to time in different parts of the world, but the advantage of this disease is that it is contagious when symptoms appear. So if it is correctly diagnosed, the patient can be isolated – emphasizes Gut in an interview with Medonet.

Monkey pox – what is this disease?

Monkey pox is a zoonosis, i.e. a zoonotic disease. The name itself can be a bit confusing, because it is transmitted mainly by small mammals such as squirrels, rats. It comes from Africa. Outside of this continent, it was first detected in the US in 2003.

It is caused by orthopoxvirus. Prof. Krzysztof Pyrć, a virologist from the Jagiellonian University, assures on Twitter that the monkey pox virus is poorly transmitted between people. The infection occurs after close contact with a sick animal, e.g. as a result of being bitten. It is transmitted among people by airborne droplets (coughing and sneezing or the patient’s saliva).

The most common symptoms of this disease are: fever, headache, back and muscle pain, enlarged lymph nodes and rash. If the course of the disease is severe, the rash may cover the entire body, including the head. Initially, they are mottled eruptions that develop into blisters. They can turn into pustules if there is a bacterial superinfection.

The incubation period is approximately 12 days. In most cases it is mild. The sick person recovers within a few weeks. Mortality is up to 10 percent.

1. Find out more: Monkey pox invades Great Britain. Subsequent infections

Monkey pox and chicken pox

Monkey pox has nothing to do with chicken pox (Latin varicella), colloquially known as an airgun. These are contagious diseases, but the air rifle is caused by other types of viruses. These are pathogens from the Herpesviridae family.

– This is a completely different virus, so I prefer to use – in the case of chickenpox – its old name air gun – says Prof. Gut.

Windbreaker is a childhood disease with a mild course. It is very easy to transfer by contact. Mainly young children are ill, it is more dangerous for adults. In Poland, there are about 100- 200. cases of illness annually.

From the moment of infection to the first symptoms, it may take up to 21 days, on average 14 days. It spreads quickly because we get infected from a sick person 1-2 days before the appearance of a rash and vesicles. And this infectivity persists until the vesicles turn into scabs, which fall off after some time. The infected complain of malaise even before the appearance of the rash. The following may appear then:

1. fever or low-grade fever
2. loss of appetite
3. headache
4. muscle pain

Chickenpox is usually mild. You can get vaccinated against it. Complications occur sporadically. In adults, the disease may be more severe.

Smallpox closer to true smallpox

However, smallpox is closer to a more dangerous disease – smallpox, which was announced to end in the world in 1980, two years after its last case was recorded in London. For thousands of years, it has caused hundreds of millions of deaths.

Smallpox (Latin variola vera) is often called human pox. This term is not entirely – as Prof. Gut – is real because there are two other viruses that cause human pox. Smallpox is also called smallpox.

It has a hard course and high mortality – nearly 30 percent. sick with it dies. The characteristic symptoms are a rash that appears all over the body after 2-4 days of fever. Pimples appear in the final stage. They are covered with scabs that fall off but leave unsightly scars.

The patient is infected from the moment the first lesions appear on the skin and mucous membranes until the scabs, which also contain the virus, fall off, so they are contagious. It takes about three weeks. After healing, it is worth using Mediskin Medisil Cream, a hypoallergenic regenerating cream for irritation.

“In Poland, the last case of native smallpox took place in 1937, while outbreaks after the introduction of this disease were recorded in 1953, 1962 and 1963 ″ – the Chief Sanitary Inspector recalled on May 8, 2020, i.e. on the fortieth anniversary of the announcement of complete eradication of smallpox. in the world.

This was possible thanks to extensive vaccination. The World Health Organization (WHO) introduced mandatory vaccination in 1967, but after the eradication of this disease in the world, it was withdrawn from the calendar. Most of the world’s population is not immune to the smallpox virus because of this.

We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to the diet. Do you have to stick to it 100% to stay healthy and feel good? Do you really have to start every day with breakfast? What is it like with sipping meals and eating fruit? Listen: