Elysse Weber

To prevent the contamination of Monkey Pox, these objects could be essential.

Within the past decade, many diseases have become widespread throughout the world. After COVID-19 shook our country, a virus known as “Mpox” (aka Money Pox), brought back the horror of being caught in a pandemic, once again.

Mpox was first brought to light in 1958 when a disease began spreading within colonies of monkeys that were being kept for investigation. Though the disease was first noted within monkeys, the source of the illness is still unknown. 12 years later, during the 1970s, the first case of Mpox was diagnosed in a human in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Just two years ago, Mpox was brought to not only the United States, but also around the world. Prior to this, Mpox cases were very rare and were not a threat to humanity. The World Health Organization renamed the illness levels within Mpox; Clade I and Clade II. Clade I is the cause of severe illness, but would rarely result in death. One out of every 10 people would die due to this illness. Clade I is most known throughout Central Africa. Clade II, however, is what made Mpox so well known today. This outbreak is what took place in 2022, but is not as life-threatening considering 99.9% of those infected have survived. Clade II is most popular in West Africa. 

According to the World Health Organization, the most familiar symptoms of Mpox are skin rashes, mucosal lesions that can last up to four weeks, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, decreased energy and swollen lymph nodes.  

Mpox can be spread like any other illness, through close contact with an individual who is contaminated with the disease, or direct contact with an infected substance or object. The audience that is most at-risk to MPox are children under the age of one, impregnated women (because the virus could potentially pass to the fetus) and people with weakened immune systems. That being said, ways to prevent contamination are getting vaccinated and eliminating close contact with those who have the virus.