Vaccine and treatment available
This virus has been known to affect a community for decades and there are vaccines and treatments available.
Because the monkeypox virus is very similar to the virus that causes smallpox, the smallpox vaccine has also been shown to be effective for both diseases.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states on its website that no specific treatment is currently available for monkeypox infection, but its spread can be controlled with medication.
There are already drugs in the market that are already approved for use in monkeypox and have been effective against the disease. For example, cidofovir, ST-246 and vaccinia immunoglobulin are used in the infection of monkeypox.
A multi-nationally approved vaccine, JYNNEOSTM, also known as Imvaimmune or Imvanex, is available for the prevention and treatment of monkeypox. This vaccine is made by Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic.
Previous data on its use in Africa show that it is 85% effective in preventing monkeypox.
Monkeypox was initially found in 1958, when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in study colonies of monkeys, thus the name. During a period of increased effort to eradicate smallpox, the first human case of monkeypox was discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970. Human cases of monkeypox have been documented in several Central and Western African nations since then.