The First Case Of Monkeypox Was Found In Manitoba, Is It The Start Of a Pandemic?

After going through a long pandemic like Covid-19, people have been paying more attention to the news considering new diseases. This means that our world has been changed forever. Since Covid-19 hit the world, there are still variants roaming around, so Manitoba isn’t completely free of the new viruses. Moreover, there was a case of Monkeypox detected in Manitoba last weekend. 

Many people are scared that the monkeypox virus will stop the world like Covid-19, but Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the W.H.O.’s technical lead on Covid-19, said in an interview, “As surveillance expands, we do expect that more cases will be seen. But we need to put this into context because it’s not Covid,” 

The symptoms of this virus are very similar to Covid-19; they’re headaches, fever, chills, muscle aches, exhaustion, backaches, and swollen lymph nodes. After experiencing these symptoms, the patient will face a rash that might appear anywhere on the body. 

Although, the interesting thing about this sudden spread of this virus is that it usually happens in animal populations only, according to the Georgetown University zoonotic diseases researcher, Dr. Ellen Carlin. “The virus has probably been circulating in these animals for a very, very long time, and for the most part, it has stayed in animal populations,” she mentioned, so the main question is, why did it suddenly infect humans? “Genetic analysis suggests that although the monkeypox virus is rapidly spreading in the open, it has been silently circulating in people for years.” This answers the question, but how will the world or how will Canada look like a couple of months from now? Will another virus haunt Canadians? The Manitoba government has mentioned that “168 doses of the vaccine have been administered to eligible people in Manitoba.” Moreover, since scientists are familiar with this virus, they will have the ultimate cure in the near future. 

Sources:

• https://www.nytimes.com/article/monkeypox-virus-covid.html
• https://www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/diseases/monkeypox.html#symptoms
• https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?item=55962
• https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/08/18/monkeypox-has-spread-rapidly-in-male-sex-networks-will-it-spread-further

– Halla Alhamed, U Multicultural

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of U Multicultural.

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