In 1970, when smallpox was nearly eradicated from the globe, in the Equateur province of Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC]) a 9-year-old boy developed a smallpox like illness, which was eventually confirmed as human monkeypox, the first known human case of monkeypox, by WHO.1
Monkeypox symptoms are very similar to but less severe than those seen in smallpox patients.2 Monkeypox virus is a double-stranded DNA virus that belongs to the orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family.3 There are two clades of monkeypox virus: the West African clade and the Congo Basin (Central African) clade. Of the two types in humans, the West African type causes a less severe disease than the Central African (Congo Basin) type.4,5
Key words: Monkeypox, covid, rash.
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