Important Facts for Prelims (6th November 2018) | 06 Nov 2018

A new and emerging contagious disease threat, caused by monkeypox, has been declared a 'public health threat' in parts of central Africa.
According to World Health Organisation, monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in remote parts of central and west Africa, near tropical rainforests.
The virus is mostly transmitted to people from various wild animals such as rodents and primates, but has limited secondary spread through human-to-human transmission.
There is no specific treatment or vaccine available although prior smallpox vaccination was highly effective in preventing monkeypox as well.
Human monkeypox was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 2017, Nigeria experienced the largest documented outbreak.
Since May 2018, the virus has been spreading in parts of Africa.
It is similar to human smallpox, a disease that was eradicated in 1980. Although monkeypox is much milder than smallpox, it can be fatal.

The spot-necked day gecko (Cnemaspis Maculicolis) and the Anaimudi day gecko (Cnemaspis Anamudiensis) are the two new gecko species found in India.
These two very distinctly-patterned lizards are found only in the higher reaches of the Agasthyamalai and Annamalai hill ranges in the Western Ghats.
Spot-necked day gecko has bluish-white spots in a distinct ‘necklace-pattern’ on its nape.