Browsing by Author "Nawaz, Faisal A."

Now showing 1 - 20 of 21

Challenges faced by African healthcare workers during the third wave of the pandemic
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Abstract: Africa experienced the third wave of the coronavirus disease in 2019, which caused an 18% rise in cases in most parts of the continent. As of January 2022, the region had an estimated 10.4 million cumulative cases and more than 233,000 deaths, which add up to the burden on the fragile healthcare system, which continues to face a shortage of staff and resources. In addition, the progression of the pandemic further threatens the supply of healthcare workers in Africa due to the increased risk of infection and death, where more than 10,000 healthcare workers in 40 countries have been infected with the virus. This is amid low vaccination coverage, with only 27% of healthcare workers in Africa being fully vaccinated against the disease. Despite the delayed start and slow progression of the pandemic in Africa, there are increasing concerns over the challenges on the African healthcare workers such as economic insecurity and stressful working conditions, which are associated with limited access to personal protective equipment and other vital resources such as ventilators. In addition, the pandemic further predisposes African healthcare workers to social stigma, burnout, insomnia, depression, and fear of safety in their families. The aim of this study is to highlight the challenges faced by African healthcare workers, provide recommendations for change, and emphasize the need to prioritize their physical and mental well‐being.
Challenging the Illusion: Health Equity Amidst New Variants
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
HIGHLIGHTS • LMICs with limited capacities and infrastructures have experienced striking and disproportionate public health and economic losses during the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly due to imposed lockdowns and restrictions. • The pandemic’s emerging variants are a manifestation of unequal and unjust distribution of COVID-19 vaccination—unmasking “health equity” as an illusion. • No firm actions have been taken by HICs and powerful actors, who could be playing a leading role in offering solutions rather than privileging self-defeating interests. • The ongoing COVID-19 response and future efforts for pandemic preparedness should ensure health equity is made an urgent, core priority—rather than an afterthought.
Child malnutrition in Afghanistan amid a deepening humanitarian crisis
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Abstract: Decades of political turmoil and stifling war, among other issues, has turned Afghanistan into the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Just 4 months after the Taliban seized control, the majority of the Afghan population face starvation, with >3.3 million children unable to afford basic food resources, leading to dozens of deaths every week. Restrictions on humanitarian assistance, withholding of vital food supplies and inadequate medical care play a major role in exacerbating the rates of malnutrition in the vulnerable paediatric population. Global interference is warranted to avoid unfathomable consequences in mitigating this public health catastrophe.
Comorbidities Associated With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents at ‎a Tertiary Care Setting
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.; Khan, Abdul Rahman; Sultan, Meshal A.
Abstract:‎ Studies have revealed high rates of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric comorbid conditions among ‎individuals diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, research on this ‎topic in the Arab world has been limited. This study evaluates the medical, neurodevelopmental, and ‎psychiatric comorbidities in children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD in Dubai, United Arab ‎Emirates (UAE). A total of 428 pediatric patients diagnosed with ADHD were included. Children and ‎adolescents with ADHD had high rates of comorbid disorders. Twenty comorbid conditions were ‎identified. More than 3 quarters of the study sample had at least 1 comorbid disorder. The most ‎common comorbidity among children was autism spectrum disorder, and among adolescents was ‎anxiety disorders. Comprehensive assessments are highly warranted to identify and manage associated ‎comorbid conditions. Further research is needed in exploring the biopsychosocial factors contributing to ‎the elevated rate of comorbidity in children and adolescents with ADHD.‎
COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests: Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Literature
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Abstract: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt health systems worldwide, conducting Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) at specified intervals has become an essential part of many people’s lives around the world. We identified and analyzed the academic literature on COVID-19 RAT. The Web of Science electronic database was queried on 6 July 2022 to find relevant publications. Publication and citation data were retrieved directly from the database. VOSviewer, a bibliometric software, was then used to relate these data to the semantic content from the titles, abstracts, and keywords. The analysis was based on data from 1000 publications. The most productive authors were from Japan and the United States, led by Dr. Koji Nakamura from Japan (n = 10, 1.0%). The most academically productive countries were in the North America, Europe and Asia, led by the United States of America (n = 266, 26.6%). Sensitivity (n = 32, 3.2%) and specificity (n = 23, 2.3%) were among the most frequently recurring author keywords. Regarding sampling methods, “saliva” (n = 54, 5.4%) was mentioned more frequently than “nasal swab” (n = 32, 3.2%) and “nasopharyngeal swab” (n = 22, 2.2%). Recurring scenarios that required RAT were identified: emergency department, healthcare worker, mass screening, airport, traveler, and workplace. Our bibliometric analysis revealed that COVID-19 RAT has been utilized in a range of studies. RAT results were cross-checked with RT-PCR tests for sensitivity and specificity. These results are consistent with comparable exchanges of methods, results or discussions among laboratorians, authors, institutions and publishers in the involved countries of the world.
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A narrative review of four South Asian countries
(2022) Ennab, Farah; Zary, Nabil; Nawaz, Faisal A.
Objectives: Vaccine hesitancy remains a global issue, especially within poverty-stricken countries where there’s an interplay of financial and nonfinancial barriers. This narrative review aims to understand attitudes and behaviors toward COVID-19 vaccination in four South Asian countries and make context-specific recommendations to vaccine program drivers and decision-makers. Methods: A search was conducted using PubMed and Science Direct, and CINHAL from January 2020 up to May 2022 restricted to the English language for terms: “Afghanistan” OR “Pakistan” OR “India” OR “Bangladesh” in combination with “COVID-19 vaccine” and other related terms. All articles were initially included, and those with relevance were included in the synthesis of this paper. Results: A narrative review was performed for this study. Our narrative review included a total of eighteen studies with a sample size (n = 223–5,237) averaging about 1,325 participants per study conducted. The studies included revealed public hesitancy to receive the COVID-19 vaccine ranging from 6.3 to 56.2% with an average of 31.63% across all eighteen studies. Several reasons were linked to this observation in these four South Asian countries, and the predominant ones included: Insufficient information provided to the general public about the side effects of the vaccines, concerns regarding vaccine safety, and skepticism of vaccine efficacy. Conclusion: Vaccine hesitancy is a global problem within the context of COVID-19, and issues regarding equity, misinformation, and poverty in South Asian countries makes it di cult to meet goals for herd immunity. Policymakers and governments should aim toward financial and non-financial incentives to drive the public toward vaccination.
Double trouble: COVID-19 vaccine misinformation amidst conflict in Ukraine
(2022-08) Ennab, Farah; Nawaz, Faisal A.
Abstract: The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic have presented valuable insights into new public health challenges which were once difficult to recognize. At the core of this strenuous public health emergency, lies a dire urgency to prioritize effective therapeutic interventions - namely vaccines, surveillance programs, and public awareness measures. Particularly in the midst of a digital era fueled by misinformation and ongoing conflicts [1]. On the 24th of February earlier this year, Ukraine was embattled by recurrent conflicts with Russia, its neighboring country; exacerbating the number of people potentially affected by this humanitarian crisis and causing profound destruction to medical institutions which encompass the cornerstone of treatment for many patients affected with COVID-19 [2]. Additionally, there have been increasing concerns of a significant decline in COVID-19 testing since the beginning of this conflict, suggesting that undetected transmission is occurring at a much higher rate than previously reported.
Effects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on blood donation and blood banks in India
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Abstract: India, the second most populous country in the world, started its mass vaccination campaign on January 16th, 2021. With the aim to vaccinate 1.3 billion people, this vaccination programme was dubbed as the world’s largest vaccination drive. However, with depleted blood stores due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown leading to reduced blood camps, the superposed regulations on blood donation deferral poses an impending risk of depletion of blood and its products. This will lead to the inability in meeting unpredictable patterns of demand in blood requirement post-pandemic. Hence to prevent avoidable risks of blood shortage in surgeries and lifesaving procedures, a secure storage system should be ensured.
Enhancing public trust in COVID-19 vaccination during ramadan 2022: A call for action
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Abstract: Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar in which it is compulsory for Muslims to abstain from eating and drinking during the daytime. The COVID-19 pandemic posed additional challenges for Muslims as the crowded religious gatherings could give a new breath to the spread of the virus. Similar measures were adopted during Ramadan in 2021. The initiation of COVID-19 vaccination across the globe in combination with the need to maintain personal protective measures against COVID-19, result in new needs and challenges. At this juncture, Ramadan 2022 offers a growing opportunity to unite a global voice for solidarity, equal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and tackling the challenge of vaccine hesitancy. Highlights: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy continues to pose significant public health challenges worldwide. • The holy month of Ramadan brings a critical opportunity to enhance public trust in COVID-19 vaccination and address vaccine hesitancy. • Muslim-populated countries and their faith leaders can utilise the spiritual aspect of Ramadan to deliver evidence-based awareness about COVID-19 vaccines. • Governments should collaborate with stakeholders in the fields of healthcare and social sciences in order to implement vital public health measures.
From black to white: A roadmap to containing the rise of candidiasis amidst COVID-19 and mucormycosis in India
(2021) Nawaz, Faisal A.; Khan, Abdul Rahman
Abstract: With numbers of active COVID-19 cases in India falling in recent weeks and the healthcare system finally showing signs of coping with the mucormycosis epidemic, several new reports of COVID-19 cases linked to “white fungus” have emerged. This has led to rising concern with the potential to stretch the capacity of an already burdened healthcare system. Moreover, the implications of this disease in the COVID-19 population and its consequences on the health and socio-economic structure of the country have not been vastly studied. This commentary explores the need for government efforts in the context of containing candidiasis during the pandemic and provides key recommendations on combating this imminent public health challenge.
Impacts of biomedical hashtag-based Twitter campaign: #DHPSP utilization for promotion of open innovation in digital health, patient safety, and personalized medicine
(2021) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Abstract: The open innovation hub Digital Health and Patient Safety Platform (DHPSP) was recently established with the purpose to invigorate collaborative scientific research and the development of new digital products and personalized solutions aiming to improve human health and patient safety. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a Twitter‐based campaign centered on using the hashtag #DHPSP to promote the visibility of the DHPSP initiative. Thus, tweets containing #DHPSP were monitored for five weeks for the period 20.10.2020–24.11.2020 and were analyzed with Symplur Signals (social media analytics tool). In the study period, a total of 11,005 tweets containing #DHPSP were posted by 3020 Twitter users, generating 151,984,378 impressions. Analysis of the healthcare stakeholder‐identity of the Twitter users who used #DHPSP revealed that the most of participating user accounts belonged to individuals or doctors, with the top three user locations being the United States (501 users), the United Kingdom (155 users), and India (121 users). Analysis of co‐occurring hashtags and the full text of the posted tweets further revealed that the major themes of attention in the #DHPSP Twitter‐community were related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), medicine and health, digital health technologies, and science communication in general. Overall, these results indicate that the #DHPSP initiative achieved high visibility and engaged a large body of Twitter users interested in the DHPSP focus area. Moreover, the conducted campaign resulted in an increase of DHPSP member enrollments and website visitors, and new scientific collaborations were formed. Thus, Twitter campaigns centered on a dedicated hashtag prove to be a highly efficient tool for visibility‐ promotion, which could be successfully utilized by healthcare‐related open innovation platforms or initiatives.
Implications of conflict on mental health in Somalia and beyond
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Introduction: Somalia, a nation in the horn of Africa, has been suffering from continuous conflict, political unrest and a high disease burden since the outbreak of civil war in 1991 (World Bank n.d.; IHME n.d.). The dearth of established governance has culminated in inadequate access to social services and the collapse of public institutions involved in the health and welfare of the Somali population. Despite the success of a few business sectors, the country is marred with widespread social and economic problems, and seriously deficient public institutions also challenged by the acute demands and complications of the ongoing global pandemic (WHO 2010). Mental health, an important factor that encompasses ‘health’, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), remains an ignored domain in the nation. In fact, it is given the least importance owing to lack of funds and poor allocation of resources by the donor community as well as the local authorities (WHO 2010, 2021). According to a WHO report, every one out of three Somali citizens is affected by some form of mental health disorder. It has been estimated that the prevalence of mental health illness in Somalia is higher than that of other low-income and war-torn nations (WHO 2010). Less than 1 consultation per person per year for all reasons has been reported during the month of September 2021 (WHO 2021). We aim to discuss the effects and challenges that this conflict presents to the mental health of the Somali population – both in Somalia and elsewhere – and provide recommendations to help alleviate this public health crisis.
Implications of social media misinformation on COVID-19 vaccine confidence among pregnant women in Africa
(2022) Ennab, Farah; Khan, Abdul Rahman; Nawaz, Faisal A.
Abstract: It has been over a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and subsequently a global pandemic. The world has experienced a lot of uncertainty since then as we all get used to this new ‘normal’ with social distancing measures, lockdowns, the emergence of new variants, and an array of hope with the development of vaccines. Having an abstract understanding of vaccine delivery, public perceptions of vaccines, and promoting acceptance of vaccines are critical to tackling the pandemic. The advent of the pandemic has led to the emergence of an ‘infodemic’ or rampant misinformation surrounding the virus, treatment, and vaccines. This poses a critical threat to global health as it has the potential to lead to a public health crisis by exacerbating disease spread and overwhelming healthcare systems. This ‘infodemic’ has led to rising vaccine hesitancy which is of paramount concern with the WHO even identifying it as one of the ten main threats to Global health almost 2 years before the approval of COVID-19 vaccines. Pregnant African women are one of the most vulnerable population groups in a region with an already burdened healthcare system. Currently, there isn’t ample research in the literature that explores vaccine hesitancy in this subpopulation and the impact of social media misinformation surrounding it. The aim of this paper is to highlight the implications of this ‘infodemic’ on the pregnant African population and suggest key recommendations for improved healthcare strategies.
Low Birth Weight Prevalence in Children Diagnosed with Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Dubai
(2021) Nawaz, Faisal A.; Sultan, Meshal A.
Abstract: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of low birth weight and other perinatal risk factors in children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders. This is one of the first studies in the Arabian Gulf region focused on the contribution of these factors toward the development of various disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and other mental disorders. This descriptive study was based on qualitative data analysis. We reviewed retrospective information from the electronic medical records of 692 patients in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The prevalence of low birth weight in children with mental disorders was significantly higher as compared to the general population (16% vs 6% respectively). Furthermore, other risk factors, including high birth weight and preterm birth were noted to have a significant association with neurodevelopmental disorders. Future research on the impact of perinatal risk factors will contribute to advancement of early intervention guidelines.
Medical and Health-Related Misinformation on Social Media: Bibliometric Study of the Scientific Literature
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Background: Social media has been extensively used for the communication of health-related information and consecutively for the potential spread of medical misinformation. Conventional systematic reviews have been published on this topic to identify original articles and to summarize their methodological approaches and themes. A bibliometric study could complement their findings, for instance, by evaluating the geographical distribution of the publications and determining if they were well cited and disseminated in high-impact journals. Objective: The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the current literature to discover the prevalent trends and topics related to medical misinformation on social media. Methods: The Web of Science Core Collection electronic database was accessed to identify relevant papers with the following search string: ALL=(misinformati* OR “wrong informati*” OR disinformati* OR “misleading informati*” OR “fake news*”) AND ALL=(medic* OR illness* OR disease* OR health* OR pharma* OR drug* OR therap*) AND ALL=(“social media*” OR Facebook* OR Twitter* OR Instagram* OR YouTube* OR Weibo* OR Whatsapp* OR Reddit* OR TikTok* OR WeChat*). Full records were exported to a bibliometric software, VOSviewer, to link bibliographic information with citation data. Term an keyword maps were created to illustrate recurring terms and keywords. Results: Based on an analysis of 529 papers on medical and health-related misinformation on social media, we found that the most popularly investigated social media platforms were Twitter (n=90), YouTube (n=67), and Facebook (n=57). Articles targeting these 3 platforms had higher citations per paper (>13.7) than articles covering other social media platforms (Instagram, Weibo, WhatsApp, Reddit, and WeChat; citations per paper <8.7). Moreover, social media platform–specific papers accounted for 44.1% (233/529) of all identified publications. Investigations on these platforms had different foci. Twitter-based research explored cyberchondria and hypochondriasis, YouTube-based research explored tobacco smoking, and Facebook-based research studied vaccine hesitancy related to autism. COVID-19 was a common topic investigated across all platforms. Overall, the United States contributed to half of all identified papers, and 80% of the top 10 most productive institutions were based in this country. The identified papers were mostly published in journals of the categories public environmental and occupational health, communication, health care sciences services, medical informatics, and medicine general internal, with the top journal being the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Conclusions: There is a significant platform-specific topic preference for social media investigations on medical misinformation. With a large population of internet users from China, it may be reasonably expected that Weibo, WeChat, and TikTok (and its Chinese version Douyin) would be more investigated in future studies. Currently, these platforms present research gaps that leave their usage and information dissemination warranting further evaluation. Future studies should also include social platforms targeting non-English users to provide a wider global perspective.
Mental health of children in Palestine: An Intergenerational Crisis
(2022) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Introduction: Palestine has been a war-torn state for the past 70 years with sociopolitical fragmentation resulting in a mental health crisis stemming from constant violence, trauma, and deprived human resources. Palestinians have little to no access to basic human rights such as food, safe drinking water, healthcare, and education services that add to the existing insecurities of conflict in the region. During this time, there has been an increase in the incidence of mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among others (Massad et al., 2017). The occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank are among most vulnerable to mental illness, which not only includes adults but children as well. In a study carried out in 2020, 53.5% of children in Gaza had PTSD and about 90% of the children had been subjected to some form of trauma (Al Jazeera, 2021). It has been reported by Al-Jazeera that each year around 500–700 Palestinian children and teenagers are arrested and taken to military detention camps (Ronna, 2021). Children face severe injuries and sometimes get killed when protesting for their rights, emphasizing why this crisis must be addressed.
Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in an Adolescent with Intellectual Disability
(2022) Al-Abdullah, Zainab; Nawaz, Faisal A.; Kair, Hawk M.; Sultan, Meshal A.
Abstract: Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) experience various psychiatric comorbidities including anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in a rate that is equivalent or higher than individuals without ID. Unfortunately, these cooccurring conditions are often missed during the evaluations due to various reasons, including their atypical presentation. In this case report, we present the clinical symptoms of an adolescent with mild ID who presented with irritability and was diagnosed with OCD following a comprehensive assessment. The treatment course is also summarized as well as the positive outcome to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication. In this report, we discuss potential factors that increase the rate of psychiatric comorbidities including OCD in individuals with ID. Furthermore, in the context of limited research in this area, we recommend additional studies in order to build a detailed understanding of the clinical presentation of psychiatric cooccurring disorders in individuals with ID with the goal of enhancing assessment tools in the future.
People’s Willingness to Vaccinate Against COVID-19 Despite Their Safety Concerns: Twitter Poll Analysis
(2021) Nawaz, Faisal A.
Background: On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee declared the rapid, worldwide spread of COVID-19 a global health emergency. Since then, tireless efforts have been made to mitigate the spread of the disease and its impact, and these efforts have mostly relied on nonpharmaceutical interventions. By December 2020, the safety and efficacy of the first COVID-19 vaccines were demonstrated. The large social media platform Twitter has been used by medical researchers for the analysis of important public health topics, such as the public’s perception on antibiotic use and misuse and human papillomavirus vaccination. The analysis of Twitter-generated data can be further facilitated by using Twitter’s built-in, anonymous polling tool to gain insight into public health issues and obtain rapid feedback on an international scale. During the fast-paced course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Twitter polling system has provided a viable method for gaining rapid, large-scale, international public health insights on highly relevant and timely SARS-CoV-2–related topics. Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand the public’s perception on the safety and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines in real time by using Twitter polls. Methods: We developed 2 Twitter polls to explore the public’s views on available COVID-19 vaccines. The surveys were pinned to the Digital Health and Patient Safety Platform Twitter timeline for 1 week in mid-February 2021, and Twitter users and influencers were asked to participate in and retweet the polls to reach the largest possible audience. Results: The adequacy of COVID-19 vaccine safety (ie, the safety of currently available vaccines; poll 1) was agreed upon by 1579 out of 3439 (45.9%) Twitter users. In contrast, almost as many Twitter users (1434/3439, 41.7%) were unsure about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. Only 5.2% (179/3439) of Twitter users rated the available COVID-19 vaccines as generally unsafe. Poll 2, which addressed the question of whether users would undergo vaccination, was answered affirmatively by 82.8% (2862/3457) of Twitter users, and only 8% (277/3457) categorically rejected vaccination at the time of polling. Conclusions: In contrast to the perceived high level of uncertainty about the safety of the available COVID-19 vaccines, we observed an elevated willingness to undergo vaccination among our study sample. Since people's perceptions and views are strongly influenced by social media, the snapshots provided by these media platforms represent a static image of a moving target. Thus, the results of this study need to be followed up by long-term surveys to maintain their validity. This is especially relevant due to the circumstances of the fast-paced pandemic and the need to not miss sudden rises in the incidence of vaccine hesitancy, which may have detrimental effects on the pandemic’s course.
A potential rise of breast cancer risk in the UAE post-COVID-19 lockdown: A call for action
(2022) Ennab, Farah; Nawaz, Faisal A.
Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first detected in late December of 2019 with early reports of pneumonia-like symptoms from Wuhan, China. This outbreak has quickly caused major healthcare havoc, with the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizing it as a public health emergency of international concern and subsequently declaring it a global pandemic on March 11th, 2020 [1]. The first confirmed case in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was reported on January 29th, 2020. As of April 6th, 2022, the current total case count has reached over 800,000 infections with a total of 2300 coronavirus-related deaths [2,3]. The UAE government took early and effective approaches, which all successfully played a crucial part in controlling the rate of infection [4]. Unfortunately, however, even with the implementation of these measures, the strain on the healthcare facilities necessitated the cessation of elective procedures and created gaps in many routine screening appointments for women seeking early detection of breast cancer. This delay in vital screening amidst the COVID-19 pandemic as reported by relevant clinical studies is thought to be responsible for the concerning spike in late-stage breast cancer cases across the country today [5]. The sudden reprioritization of care had a profound impact on oncological services, with a noticeable reduction in routine breast cancer screening programs such as mammograms and ultrasounds [6]. Additionally, there have been numerous reports of an increasing number of late-stage breast cancer diagnoses as an unintended effect of the pandemic’s early lockdowns and medical restrictions as described by early reports from global trends [7,8]. Oncology experts worldwide are expressing their fears over this new phenomenon known as the “Tsunami of Cancer”, where there will be an expected upscale in cancer diagnoses on a global level [9]. To date, there has been a lack of published papers in this context in the UAE. The aim of this commentary article is to highlight the implications surrounding breast cancer screening in the UAE and provide recommendations.
Rise of monkeypox: Lessons from COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate global health crises
(2022) Ennab, Farah; Nawaz, Faisal A.
Introduction: The emergence and spread of infectious diseases with pandemic potential has occurred regularly throughout history. HIV/AIDS, bubonic plague, smallpox, and influenza are some of the highest-profile examples. The COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization (WHO). Alongside other measures such as restrictions on population mixing and the use of face masks, COVID-19 vaccination has been arguably the most effective intervention in reducing deaths and severe COVID-19 disease. As of May 23, 2022, almost 12 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally [1]. Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus. This virus has 2 strains, the West African and the Congo Basin clades [2]. On May 13, 2022, the WHO reported several cases of monkeypox virus infections, across three of its regions: namely Africa, the Americas, and the European Region. As of the June 8, 2022, about 1285 laboratory-confirmed cases were detected in 28 regions [3]. This rare viral disease commonly endemic in West and Central Africa has now been detected in more than 11 non-African countries such as the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America. Health authorities in the United Kingdom established a special task force to coordinate the extensive contact tracing of people who had contact with the confirmed cases. In addition, vaccination has been offered to higher-risk contacts [4]. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is typically spread by respiratory aerosols or droplets. Monkeypox can be transmitted via respiratory aerosols, but transmission can be via contact with lesions, bodily fluids, and contaminated materials such as bedding and towels. The basic reproduction number for monkeypox appears to be much lower than COVID19, hence transmission should be slower than has been observed from COVID-19 outbreaks [5]. Some patients may display clinical features including the classical skin rashes and listers, along with symptoms such as headache, fever, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and body aches, back pain, and exhaustion. The West African strain is the type of monkeypox virus responsible for the 2022 outbreak, and this strain appears to cause less severe disease compared to the Congo Basin strain, with a case fatality rate of 3.6% compared to 10.6% for the Congo Basin strain [6]. The pandemic response to COVID-19 has provided significant new knowledge, some of which could be adapted and applied to the 2022 Monkeypox outbreak, minimizing its spread and reducing the global impact.