This has got to be something straight of a movie. The first ever case of Monkeypox has made its way to Dallas from Nigeria. A person traveling from Nigeria to Atlanta, Georgia with of final destination of Dallas, Texas is currently in isolation to help prevent the spread of the virus.

This alarmed me because I am sensitive to anything that people use the term "monkey" and Africa together. We don't have much information about the person carrying the virus and it appears that the CDC does not have many answers either or they are just not sharing them with the public. Since I was not getting the answers I needed to ease my mind, I stayed up last night researching the Monkeypox Virus.

Upon my investigation, I learned that Monkeypox is called monkeypox because it was first identified in a laboratory of monkeys and it is a viral disease that mostly occurs in central and western Africa. That still did not satisfy me, so I kept researching. I also discovered that Monkeypox in human beings has similar symptoms to Smallpox. It all starts with a fever and headache. Then you could possibly experience muscle aches and exhaustion. The biggest difference between Monkeypox and Smallpox is that Monkeypox causes your lymph nodes to swell and that is not the case with Smallpox.

So now the question for me became, who does a human actually get this virus? Well, I learned that it is transmitted to humans from wild animals like rodents, primates and humans can pass it to other humans. This caused some concern because this person was on two planes with other people. Then I kept reading and learned that person to person contact occurs if one person comes in contact with another person's lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and or contaminated materials like bed sheets.

If this person traveling from Nigeria as much as sneezed on the plane or in the airport, others could be infected. The CDC is working to find out if the person had any contact with other passengers during this time but really they have to check from the time he or she boarded the plane. This is all so scary not because I think I am going to catch Monkeypox but just the way these viruses are popping up and spreading. The disturbing part is that most viruses are created and when they give you a vaccination, part of the vaccine has the virus in it, so what are we really doing?

I kept researching because now I want to know how do you get rid of this virus should you catch it and this is what I learned. There is no specific treatment at this time but it can be controlled by using the Smallpox vaccine and something called cidofovir, ST-246 nad vaccinia immune globulin. Well this is just great, they put this scare out and then we learn there is no real cure.

Finally, I had to ask myself, how do I avoid getting Monkeypox? The answer to that was simple, avoid contact with animals that can carry the virus. So rodents, wild animals and primates. None of those are in my house so we are good. I kept reading and also learned to stay away from sick animals, that's easy we don't have animals nor do we hang out at the veterinary clinic or pet stores and watch out for dead animals. We are definitely not going on a field trip to see carcasses.

After researching and reading all of the articles, I came to the conclusion to just keep doing what I have already been doing, not stressing. Washing your hands and covering your mouth and nose when you sneeze is common sense or at least it should be. I will continue to protect me and my daughter's immune systems with the nutrients that I put and provide for our bodies and we will continue to be careful and I advise you and your family to do the same.

Now what I am about to share with you made me laugh out loud. In the beginning of this story I mentioned that I am not too keen to anything that refers to people and Africa being referenced with the word monkey. At the end of all of this research, I learned of another virus that common to Europe that is contracted by people coming in contact with infected animals like rodents and cats and it is called Cowpox. Can we just have one name for this virus because it all sounds like the same thing to me.

 

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