MONKEYPOX (Mpox)

 

The BOSS is always RIGHT.  

He said that the name 'MONKEYPOX' would be changed to 'Mpox'.  And so, it was changed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2022 .  It's because the previous name hurt the sentiments of the monkeys.  In fact, they want to be identified as "PRE-HUMANS."  They have a very powerful UNION supnported by the BOSSES in all the human establishments and organisations as all of them have some traits common to monkeys in running organisations !!!  Full of ego, oneupmanship and crankiness.   It's common now a days to see somebody or some body going to a court accusing somebody for hurting their sentiments.  So, the WHO  decided to replace the name "MONKEYPOX" by "Mpox" to arrest the protest by monkeys !!!   The MONKEY BOSS is happy.  That's the humour about the name.  Now, here are the facts :

        On September 9, 2024,  the Union Health Ministry of India confirmed that a person had tested positive for Mpox (Monkeypox) caused by the clade 2 strain of the virus.  The Ministry said it was an isolated case "like the earlier 30 cases reported in india from July 2022 onwards and is not a part of the current public health emergency which relates to clade 1 of Mpox as defined by the WHO.  The statement said that public health measures are actively in place to ensure that the situation is in control.

        Mpox (formerly known as 'Monkeypox') is a highly contagious disease which has killed at least 635 people in Congo in 2024.  Mpox is a rare disease caused by the mpox virus. This virus usually affects rodents, such as rats or mice, or nonhuman primates, such as monkeys. But it can occur in people.

Mpox is an infectious viral disease that can occur in humans and other animals. Symptoms include a rash that forms blisters and then crusts over, fever, and swollen lymph nodes. The illness is usually mild, and most infected individuals recover within a few weeks without treatment.

Symptoms: Rash, fever, exhaustion, swollen lymph nodes, muscle aches, sore throat

Medication: Tecovirimat, antivirals

Treatment: Supportive

Complications: Secondary infections, pneumonia, sepsis, encephalitis, and loss of vision with severe eye infection

Duration: 2 to 4 weeks

Prevention: Smallpox & mpox vaccine, hand washing, covering rash, PPE, social distancing

Prognosis: Most of the patients recover

Human monkeypox was given its name in 1970 (after the virus that causes the disease was discovered in captive monkeys in 1958), before the publication of WHO best practices in naming diseases, published in 2015. According to these best practices, new disease names should be given with the aim to minimize unnecessary negative impact of names on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare, and avoid causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups.  Accordingly, the WHO has given the new name "Mpox" to "Monkeypox" in 2022.

"What's in a name ?  That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." 

                --  Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)                                          

But, India didn't agree with Shakespeare when the names "New Delhi metal-beta
-lactamase - 1 (NDM - 1)" and  "New Delhi Superbug" were given to a drug-resistant germ.  Read about it in my article titled "The Indian Superbug" published in "The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Co-Chamber Journal" of October 2010.   Are we saying "OOTACAMUND" for "OOTY" ?  Are we going to say "BHARATHIAN" for "INDIAN" , and "Sri Vijaya Puram" for "Port Blair" of Andaman & Nicobar" ?

THREE  monkeys  !!!  --  in the JEWEL of the CHANGI airport in Singapore.

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         The "SANZARU", or "The Three Wise Monkeys", are revered in Japanese folklore;  together, they embody the proverbial principle to "SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL."

        Monkey is a primate of the Haplorrhini suborder and Simian infraorder, excluding apes and humans.  Monkeys are well-known for their inquisitiveness, intelligence and trickery.

MONKEY FLOWER

OUR  REMOTE  ANCESTORS

(ARE  THEY  MONKEYS ?)

Dr. T. Rama Prasad                            May 1, 2019

          How could we come into this world ?  How  are we able to communicate on digital media ?  Amazing ... intriguing ... perplexing ...   And,  when will our "Human Being" species would become extinct just as it happened with many other species ?

                      

CORONAVIRUS  and  60,000 years old GENES

 More than 30 years ago, I wrote in THE HINDU and INDIAN EXPRESS newspapers (see the attached photocopies) about the enigmatic and debatable subject of paleoanthropology concerning with our remote ancestors of millions of years ago.  I wrote that in course of time we may literally unearth hitherto unknown contemporary hominid species which may change our opinions about evolution.

             Now, the recent (2007 to 2019) fossil excavations from the Callao Cave (Luzon island – Philippines) indicate that another species (Homo luzonensis – so named as it was discovered in the Luzon island) existed 67,000 years ago as a contemporary to other species of that time.  This species is having characters of both modern and ancient hominin.

           Many of us think that we have evolved from apes or monkeys.  With the present knowledge of 2019,  we may say  that we didn't.  It seems that we are one of the several varieties of apes like orangutangs, gorillas and chimpanzees  which evolved from a common ancestor, millions of years ago.  The difference is that we, great apes, evolved distinctly acquiring various faculties and skills and became hominids, belonging to the taxonomic group Hominidae. So, apes are unlikely to be our ancestors, they may be our cousins.  It's a matter of conjecture.  

          Our species, Homo sapiens, co-existed with another species called Homo Neanderthalensis which is no more.  We don’t know when we and our species would be no more !!!  Evolution is a highly complex long ongoing process – old species die out and new species form  ...  "a pedigree of prodigious length," as Charles Darwin put it, long long before any fossil was identified !  

          Cosmic disasters, natural calamities, nuclear warfare,  drug-resistant microbes,  pandemics of deadly viral diseases,  life style related morbidities and mortalities,  environmental destruction, etc. may end the present human species.  When that happens, millions of years later, new species may develop and find our fossil bones and reconstruct images to guess how we were ... we don't know whether our digital records would be available to them and whether they would be able to decipher them !!!  The interrupted evolution may start all over once again.  This is what we can figure out on a larger canvas.

          Some of my writings, the information and the graphics contained in this 'scribbling' are reprinted from THE HINDU and INDIAN EXPRESS ... thanks to the publishers.

CORONA  EFFECT  2020  In future, people will be born with a mask like membrane covering the face !  Anatomy books will list one more organ in the body -- 'Face membrane' !
And, the cosmetics industry will market a huge range of 'Facemembrane' products !

CONFUSION CONFOUNDED ... again today (01.05.2019) there is the news that footprints of the mysterious ape-like creature, 'YETI' are sighted  (by the Indian Army team) !!!

Dr. T. Rama Prasad, 

'PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic, Perundurai, Erode Dt., TN, India.

Former Medical Superintendent (Special), RTS & IRT Perundurai Medical College and Research Centre, Perundurai.

*  Website: www.rama-scribbles.com  *  Blog: https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com  *  Twitter: @DrRamaprasadt       *..Facebook: T Rama Prasad  * E-mail: drtramaprasad@gmail.com  * WhatsApp: +91 98427 20393.