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Tribune News NetworkDohaMonkeypox does not pose a danger to individuals in Qatar unless they travel to one of the countries where the disease is spreading and there was contact between them and those infected with monkeypox, according to Dr Muna Al Maslamani, Medical Director of the Communicable Disease Center at Hamad Medical Corporation.“Monkeypox is less transmissible than respiratory viruses such as COVID-19 and seasonal influenza,” Dr Al Maslamani said in a video posted on the Ministry of Public Health’s Twitter account.The ministry has published awareness videos on its Twitter account about monkeypox.Dr Al Maslamani touched on how to treat people with monkeypox, noting that there is no specific treatment for monkeypox due to the similarity of the monkeypox virus with smallpox viruses, so it is possible to use medicines and developed vaccines to prevent and treat monkeypox virus infection.Dr Al Maslamani stressed that the majority of people infected with monkeypox recover completely within a few weeks. She said immunocompromised people, pregnant women and children under 12 years old can develop severe symptoms of monkeypox virus.She explained the procedures that individuals should take to protect themselves from monkeypox infection:• Avoid percutaneous contact with people who have symptoms of monkeypox and any type of rash.• Avoid touching objects and materials used for monkeypox, such as sharing eating utensils, bedding and towels• Wash hands frequently with soap and water, using an alcohol-based hand sanitizerIn another video, Dr Hamad Eid Al-Rumaihi, Director of Health Protection and Communicable Diseases Control, said monkeypox is a zoonotic virus disease, which is from the same group of smallpox virus and usually causes symptoms from mild to moderate severity.Dr Al Rumaihi added that monkeypox is spreading mainly in central and western Africa, but it has begun to spread uncommonly around the world outside the countries where the disease is endemic in recent months, noting that the World Health Organization has recently announced that the current spread of the disease is a public health emergency that raises an international concern, which is the highest level of preparedness, which requires international cooperation and coordination to limit the spread of the disease and protect the groups most vulnerable to infection.Dr Al Rumaihi said monkeypox is transmitted to humans through close contact, such as skin-to-skin contact with an infected person or animal, or by touching materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing and bedding.He added that a person infected with monkeypox transmits the disease to others as soon as symptoms appear until the rash is completely treated, and a new and clean layer of skin is formed, as the disease usually lasts from two to three weeks.Regarding the symptoms of monkeypox, he said they are represented by the appearance of a rash, high temperature, pain in the joints, severe headache, inflammation of the lymph nodes, low level of activity and back pain.He also explained the complications of the disease that can include secondary infections, bronchitis, septicemia, encephalitis and corneal infection.
