Monkeypox: an evolving public health threat

Monkeypox is a viral zoonoses having symptoms similar to smallpox although it is clinically less severe. After the eradication of smallpox in 1980, the smallpox vaccination had been ceased which gave birth to the Monkeypox, the most important orthopoxvirus of public health. The disease is characterized by fever, intense headache, myalgia, lymphadenopathy, skin eruptions (within 1-3 days), etc. The virus is named Monkeypox as it was first reported in the monkeys kept for experimental/ laboratory purposes in 1958. The first human case of Monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the campaign for the smallpox eradication. It primarily occurs in central and west Africa, in the proximity of the tropical rainforests. Animal hosts include a range of rodents and non-human primates