BRIN: Monkeypox Patients With Secondary Diseases Potentially Experiencing Severe Body Conditions

JAKARTA - Researcher from the Center for Medical and Preclinical Research at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Zulvikar Syambani Ulhaq said monkeypox patients who have the secondary disease and low immunity have the potential to experience severity or worsening conditions due to monkeypox.

"Those at risk for complications are patients who are immunosuppressed, patients with old age, or patients with secondary diseases," said Zulvikar in the Talk to Scientists (TTS) webinar entitled "Monkey Pox, a Global Health Emergency, and What Do We Need To Know?" as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, August 1.

Zulvikar said that in certain cases of monkeypox that had a high severity, the patient most likely had a history of other secondary diseases and had low immunity.

"Every person who is exposed to monkeypox has a different immune system," he said.

He said the main contact of transmission of monkeypox from person to person is not through breathing but skin-to-skin contact.

"From the research data, breathing is very small for transmission from monkeypox (monkeypox), the biggest is skin to skin contact or direct contact," he said.

Zulvikar said chickenpox can infect everyone, not only men who have sex with men (MSM).

"Monkeypox is epidemiologically found in men with a history of MSM or men who have sex with men. However, it can actually affect everyone, not only MSM," he said.

He suspects that many cases of monkeypox are found in MSM because they like to party or dance where they are in a crowd so that transmission can take place very quickly.

"I want to emphasize not always through sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse is one of the transmissions because it is skin-to-skin contact, but it can also be through crowding, watching concerts, and so on," he said.

Some of the symptoms of monkeypox that appear are indicated as flu-like, headaches, fatigue, chills, which then develop into a painful rash.

Transmission can occur through respiratory secretions, skin-to-skin contact with infected body fluids, and through inanimate objects such as clothing, shared towels and bedding contaminated with the monkeypox virus.