INTRODUCTION

Monkeypox is an acute viral infection with a clinical course resembling smallpox. However, unlike smallpox (now eradicated), which only affected humans, monkeypox is a zoonosis endemic in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The initial symptoms of monkeypox in humans involve a brief (2-3 days) febrile prodrome, which is followed by the development of a disseminated rash that consists of monomorphic, well circumscribed, deep-seated, and frequently umbilicated, pustular lesions. The density of lesions is generally highest on the face and extremities [1,2].

Lesions can also occur on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. During the pustular phase, the visual features of monkeypox rash lesions are highly characteristic of an Orthopoxvirus-associated infection. However, during the early stages of rash evolution (i.e., papular, vesicular stages) and after the characteristic peak, when primary lesions have begun to heal and regress (i.e., crusting, desquamation), it can be difficult to discriminate between monkeypox and other rash illnesses based on physical characteristics alone. Laboratory testing is thus pivotal to establishing a definitive diagnosis of monkeypox [3,4].

Though the primary sylvatic reservoir of monkeypox remains unknown, monkeypox is enzootic in northern and central Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Monkeypox being an acute viral infection with a clinical course resembling smallpox., is endemic in northern and central Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but it is reported only sporadically in neighboring Republic of the Congo (ROC). In October 2009, interethnic violence in northwestern DRC precipitated the movement of refugees across the Ubangi River into ROC. The influx of refugees into ROC heightened concerns about monkeypox in the area, because of the possibility that the virus could be imported, or that incidence could increase caused by food insecurity and over reliance on bush meat. As part of a broad-based campaign to improve health standards in refugee settlement areas, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) sponsored a program of intensive community education that included modules on monkeypox recognition and prevention. In the 6 months immediately following the outreach, 10 suspected cases of monkeypox were reported to health authorities. Laboratory testing confirmed monkeypox virus infection in two individuals, one of whom was part of a cluster of four suspected cases identified retrospectively. Anecdotes collected at the time of case reporting suggest that the outreach campaign contributed to detection of suspected cases of monkeypox [3,5].

Within the coding region examined (E9L-A24R), there is only one nucleotide difference between the two isolates that is predicted to result in an amino acid change. (A single nucleotide transversion resulted in the alteration of a methionine to an isoleucine at amino acid position 56 in the small capping enzyme [VACV_Copenhagen D12L]). This region includes the central area of the genome where many of the genes are conserved in all poxviruses [2,5,6].

Catalysts of this nucleotide transversion are Ca2+, Manganese2+ and Iron2+.

CASE REPORT

A single case of a child 7 y.old who contracted monkeypox in Italy has been recruited and treated by the administration of a complex of methionine (extracted from natural source as soybeans and spiruline) and Calcium glycerophosphate and Iron and Manganese gluconate.

The volunteer who made up his mind to undergo the experimentation declared to deem to have contracted a „sort” of smallpox having been entered in contact with baboons in a zoological garden close to home, feeding the beasts with hazelnuts and having been his hands licked (clear symptoms were fever and skin rashes in hands and soles of both feet).

The patient had to take three pills pro day for two weeks and the dosage of methionine was adjusted to 2000 mg every 8 hours.

The entire treatmnet lasted 14 days and only after the adminitration of natural methione it has been possible to notice that skin rashes tended to diminish at all (absence of itching and disappearance of redness at the extremities.

As far as the dermatities occurring during the malaise, owing to an old study ttat forecasted the employ of 10 herbs from TCM (traditional chinese medicine) to be drank and spreaded onto the skin.

DISCUSSION

Two randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trials were performed in England to study the effects of standardized oral herbal TCM in the treatment of atopic dermatitis cases for which traditional Western therapy had failed [7–9]. The investigators were aided by a Chinese physician who created a standardized mixture of 10 herbs useful for treating atopic dermatitis characterized by erythema, lichenification, and plaques of dermatitis in the absence of active exudation or clinical infection. The 10 herbs used were Potentilla Chinensis, Class 1; Tribulus terrestris; Rehmannia glutinosa, Class 2d; Lophatherum gracile; Clematis armandii, Class 1; Ledebouriella saseloides, Class 1; Dictamnus dasycarpus; Paeonia lactiflora, Class 1; Schizonepeta tenuifolia; and Glycyrrhizia glabra, Class 1.

These herbs were placed in sachets and boiled to make a decoction that was orally administered daily as a tea or mixed with glycerin 50:50 to obtain a mild emulsion apt to be spreaded.

It is abservable and therefore irrefutable that skin rashes and fevers diminish and/or disappear after 2 weeks of treatment of the young volunteer.

Thhe AA noticed that the infected boy did never scratched his axtremities and fever has been decreasing from 39° C till 36.7°C during the treatment.