As health alerts are issued worldwide regarding the spread of monkeypox, with a significant rise in cases in Africa, many scientists have recently expressed disappointment over a lone drug known for combating this disease. A recent study revealed that the primary medication used during the last global outbreak of monkeypox in 2022-2023 is not effective against the current, more severe virus spreading rapidly in Africa. The drug, known as "Tecovirimat," was effective in dealing with previous outbreaks of monkeypox, but it has not shown effectiveness in reducing the duration of skin symptoms among children and adults infected with the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States, according to Politico magazine.
There are two subtypes of the virus: strain 1, which is more virulent and prevalent in the Congo Basin in Central Africa, and strain 2, which is widespread in West Africa and caused a global outbreak in 2022.
"A Global Emergency"
Strain 1 affects children, a trend not observed in the 2022 outbreak, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a global emergency last Wednesday. The results concerning Tecovirimat were disappointing, as confirmed by Jean Marrazzo, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. However, researchers emphasized that patients can still be treated and saved when hospitalized.
It is noteworthy that the WHO declared the outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern after spreading from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Since the outbreak began in January 2023, more than 27,000 cases and over 1,100 deaths have been recorded, most of which are among children.
The virus was first discovered in 1958 in Denmark in monkeys used for research, and it was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
