A Virulent Disease Called Monkeypox: A Case Report ofCountries in Africa Where The Disease is Endemic

Cases of Monkeypox continue to rise and the World Health Organization (WHO), declared it a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). A virus called monkey pox causes the disease and it is zoonotic. The epidemiological surveillance from 1981-1986 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a country in Africa were the disease is endemic, documented only 338 cases. Previously, 90% of the affected personswere children approximately 15 years of age at leastin the endemic countries in Africa. BeyondAfrica, 99% cases ofthe current outbreak were found in men and of those, 98% involved men who have sex with men implying it is being transmitted through sexual activities. Crowded living quarters, poor hygiene, discontinuation of the smallpox vaccination, amongst others wereimplicated in the human to human transmission. The symptoms of the disease includes, viremia with 1-2 days of fever and lymphadenopathy before lesions appear. Patients at this stage may be contagious. For treatments, there are no known clinically proventreatments for the disease. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification are used for specific diagnosisand smallpox vaccines are effective against the disease. Table 1 shows cases from Africa union member countries (AUMC), and Congo Republic, Cameroon and DRC, have a high cumulative frequency(CFR) of occurrence(43, 5.6 and 4.1%), respectively (see Fig 2). The vaccine is not readily available in these endemic countries thus, donors countries needs to collaborate with researchers and health officials to determine what these endemic countries in the global south requires towards enabling scale up in response to this disease.