PIB Summary- 15th July, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Monkeypox Disease

Why in News?
The first case of monkeypox was confirmed in India on July 14, after a person who had returned to Kerala from abroad developed symptoms of the disease.

About Monkeypox

• Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease with symptoms similar to smallpox, although with less clinical severity.
• The CDC’s monkeypox overview says the infection was first discovered in 1958 following two outbreaks of a pox-like disease in colonies of monkeys kept for research — which led to the name ‘monkeypox’.

Zoonotic disease

• Monkeypox is a zoonosis, that is, a disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans.
• According to the WHO, cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus.
• Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys.
• Human-to-human transmission is, however, limited — the longest documented chain of transmission is six generations, meaning the last person to be infected in this chain was six links away from the original sick person, the WHO says.

Transmission
Transmission, when it occurs, can be through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets and contaminated objects.

Symptoms and treatment

• According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), monkeypox begins with a fever, headache, muscle aches, back ache, and exhaustion.
• It also causes the lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy), which smallpox does not.
• The WHO underlines that it is important to not confuse monkeypox with chickenpox, measles, bacterial skin infections, scabies, syphilis and medication-associated allergies.
• The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7-14 days but can range from 5-21 days.
• Usually within a day to 3 days of the onset of fever, the patient develops a rash that begins on the face and spreads to other parts of the body.
• The skin eruption stage can last between 2 and 4 weeks, during which the lesions harden and become painful, fill up first with a clear fluid and then pus, and then develop scabs or crusts.
• According to the WHO, the proportion of patients who die has varied between 0 and 11% in documented cases, and has been higher among young children.

Treatment

• There is no safe, proven treatment for monkeypox yet.
• The WHO recommends supportive treatment depending on the symptoms.
• Awareness is important for prevention and control of the infection.

Occurrence of disease

• The CDC’s monkeypox overview says the infection was first discovered in 1958 following two outbreaks of a pox-like disease in colonies of monkeys kept for research — which led to the name ‘monkeypox’.
• The first human case was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox.
• According to the WHO, 15 countries on four continents have so far reported confirmed cases of monkeypox in humans.
• Locally acquired cases have been confirmed in the DRC (which has the largest incidence of the infection in the world), Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

BIMSTEC

Why in News?
The National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India is organizing a two day Meeting of the BIMSTEC Expert Group on Cyber Security Cooperation.

About BIMSTEC

• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• India
• Nepal
• Sri Lanka
• Myanmar (South-east Asia)
• Thailand (South-east Asia)

• Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are the member states dependent on the Bay of Bengal.
• Fourteen priority sectors of cooperation have been identified and several BIMSTEC centres have been established to focus on those sectors.
• The permanent secretariat of the BIMSTEC is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

History of Formation

• In 1997, a new sub-regional grouping was formed in Bangkok under the name BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
• Following the inclusion of Myanmar on 22 December 1997 during a special Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok, the Group was renamed ‘BIMST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
• In 2004, at the first Summit the grouping was renamed as BIMSTEC or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.
• There are 14 main sectors of BIMSTEC along technological and economic cooperation among south Asian and southeast Asian countries along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
  • Trade & Investment
  • Transport & Communication
  • Energy
  • Tourism
  • Technology
  • Fisheries
  • Agriculture
  • Public Health
  • Poverty Alleviation
  • Counter-Terrorism & Transnational Crime
  • Environment & Disaster Management
  • People-to-People Contact
  • Cultural Cooperation
  • Climate Change
• The BIMSTEC uses the alphabetical order for the Chairmanship which has been taken in rotation commencing with Bangladesh (1997–1999).