What is the Difference Between Monkey Pox and Smallpox?

In our country and in many parts of the world, we have entered a period where the effects of the coronavirus epidemic have decreased in the last few months. The number of cases fell, the restrictions were lifted. Just saying that life will be normal again, a new virus news came from Europe and America; monkey flower.

Our bodies, which are now sensitive to viruses and the infectious diseases they cause, immediately went into a panic atmosphere. This disease, which has been seen in 15 countries so far and is caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV); It is closely related to smallpox, which emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries and continued into the 20th century. However, there are of course some differences between them.

Monkeypox and smallpox, viruses under the same genus

Both of these viruses cause similar lesions on the skin, and vertebrates and arthropods are natural hosts. Poxviridae family of viruses in the subfamily Chordopoxvirinae under Orthopoxviruses is among. This is why they are closely related.

The symptoms of the diseases caused by the two viruses are also similar;

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In both diseases

• High fever
• Back pain
• Tiredness

symptoms are common. In addition to these symptoms, although rare, abdominal pain and vomiting are also seen in smallpox, while these two symptoms are absent in monkeypox.

The biggest difference between the symptoms of the two diseases is seen in monkey pox, but not in smallpox. swelling of the lymph nodes status. Chills are also among the symptoms of monkeypox.

Another important difference is the lethality rate.

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Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases in history and is thought to have killed more than 300 million people in the 20th century alone. According to the data disclosed, each infected person 3 out of 10 people was losing his life. In monkeypox, this rate is 1 out of every 10 people. appears as. So monkeypox is not as deadly as smallpox.

Vaccination is the most effective treatment

In fact, there is no vaccine developed and proven to be effective for monkeypox. However, the smallpox vaccine, which was developed for smallpox and was discontinued after this disease completely disappeared, can also be applied in monkeypox cases. It can be effective up to 85% is expressed. This means that people who have had the smallpox vaccine in the past (the production of this vaccine was discontinued by the end of the 1970s) may have a milder recovery from monkeypox.

It is a more advanced version of the smallpox vaccine known as the first vaccine developed in history and has not been applied for almost 40 years. ‘modified virus Ankara (MVA) It was approved for the treatment of monkeypox in 2019 but is not yet widely used. Another drug approved for monkeypox is tecovirimat (TPOXX), an antiviral drug, and was approved in January 2022.

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4