Camille Seaton, 20, is one of the few women in the United States to have a confirmed diagnosis of monkeypox. The young woman, who lives in Georgia, posted a video on TikTok describing what she has been feeling since the blisters appeared on her skin.
According to her, the infection is incredibly painful, which prevents her from doing common everyday tasks.
Credit: Playback/TikTok/TMXWoman describes monkeypox infection as incredibly painful
“I have a lot of blisters on my hands so it was hard for me to do anything with my hands… I couldn’t hold my phone. I couldn’t do anything at home. I couldn’t even fold my clothes. It was extremely painful,” she described.
Camille says she first noticed lumps on her face on July 11 and believed it was acne. On July 16, more rashes appeared and she went to the hospital for tests, which confirmed the infection.
The other symptoms soon appeared. In addition to injuries to her body, she also suffered from fever, rash, headaches, and muscle and joint pain.
“The lesions on my face were the first to show up and the bumps remained on my face for a week and a half. And when my face started to heal, bumps started to appear on my body,” she recalled.
A month later, some lesions still remain on her face and she remains isolated from her daughter to protect her from the virus.
“It really attacks you and affects you. It’s very, very painful. I want people to know that [o vírus] it’s here and it’s spreading. It’s not a joke,” she said.
Although most cases of monkeypox have been reported among men who have sex with men, the World Health Organization (WHO) has already stressed that no one is immune to the virus, which can affect children, including children.
How does the transmission happen?
A recent study by Spanish researchers and published in the scientific journal The Lancet states that close contact during sex is the dominant form of transmission of the disease in the current outbreak. It happens through skin-to-skin contact, mainly.
This, however, does not mean that monkeypox is an STI (sexually transmitted infection). Although studies have found virus DNA in semen samples, there is still no confirmation that the material there would have the capacity to contaminate.
Respiratory droplets, which were considered a transmission medium, albeit difficult, present little or no risk of transmission, according to authors of the new study.
The conclusion is the result of an analysis of 181 patients with the disease diagnosed in three clinics in Spain between May and June this year. They state that nearly all of the individuals either had previous sexual intercourse with a person diagnosed with the monkeypox virus or had multiple partners in the past three months.
Symptoms
The World Health Organization (WHO) has noted that the vast majority of cases have presented with a rash, in addition to fever, fatigue, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, sore throat or headache.
But the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) draws attention to a different presentation of the disease in recent cases.
Before, these lesions appeared spread throughout the body and in large numbers, now this has not happened in all cases. Instead, some people diagnosed with monkeypox are showing a single spot or blister.
Credit: VisualDXThe disease is characterized by blisters on the skin
Other patients develop a localized rash, often around the genitals or anus, before experiencing any flu-like symptoms. “And some didn’t even develop these flu-like symptoms,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky said in a press release.
According to the CDC, many also did not have swollen lymph nodes, which is a standard symptom of monkeypox.
