Well, call it déjà vu or call it a totally isolated incident, because either way, someone in our beautiful city has contracted a terrible disease. And it’s not COVID-19 either. It’s actually monkeypox. Which in itself is not so much better. You see, monkeypox actually is a rare but fast-spreading upgrade of smallpox that can create a headache, various muscle aches, a fever and eventual exhaustion. It also causes lymph nodes to swell up. Doesn’t that give you the chills? It might if you have monkeypox.
Most noticeably, the rash starts on the face before spreading elsewhere to other parts of the body. The illness itself is usually as long as two weeks to four, but death is relatively rare. As it occurs in one out of every ten individuals, doomed to contract the disease.
So, it’s still pretty serious.
Now, the patient hasn’t quite had any close contacts around them in the infection period but they’re just securing themselves in an undisclosed location, just to prevent an outbreak.
Dr. Susan Philip, a fellow health officer, had this to elaborate: “We want to emphasize that this is not a disease that spreads easily through the air like COVID-19, however we do want people who might have been exposed to watch out for symptoms and to see a medical provider immediately if they develop symptoms for an evaluation.”
So it looks like it’s Monkeypox isn’t as urgent to worry about.
Of course, when someone does contract monkeypox, health officials suggest no nearby contact in activities with that specific recipient. Dr. Philip believes that “while most cases resolve on their own, monkeypox can be serious in rare cases and we want to prevent further spread in the community.”
Monkeypox, while semi-contagious, isn’t anything new to health officials, however. As it turns out, a Friday analysis on the federal level has indicated that two distinct strains within the United States have been further raising a likelihood that the monkeypox virus has been floating around for a while now.
Ever since COVID-19 has become normalized, the CDC has been making a grander effort of just recognizing infections ahead of time. The findings indicate that the outbreak is totally unlikely to contain well, as according to Dr. Angela Rasmussen. She is a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan. “We don’t really have a good sense of how many cases there are out there.” She sounds scared.
It’s common knowledge by now how to stay safe from a life-altering disease, but just in case you forget…
Wear a tight mask among indoor crowds, try not to share a drink with others, and be aware of your condition before travelling or even having physical contact.