A medical expert warned that the spread of monkeypox, a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, should not be a cause for concern. Unlike the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, monkeypox is not as contagious and has several characteristics that make it unlikely to cause a major outbreak.
Monkeypox is an old, primarily zoonotic disease, meaning it's transmitted from animals to humans through close contact with infected animals. Human-to-human transmission is rare, occurring only through close physical contact, such as skin-to-skin contact. The primary reservoir of the monkeypox virus is still unknown, but African rodents are suspected to play a role in its transmission.
Unlike the novel coronavirus, monkeypox is not an airborne pathogen. It's spread through respiratory droplets produced by coughing and sneezing, as well as through fomites, such as contaminated clothing and bedding. However, the virus is made up of double-stranded DNA, making it larger and heavier than the novel coronavirus, which is a tiny, single-stranded RNA virus.
Dr. Obwogo, a medical doctor and public health medicine specialist, explained that the virus is spread through respiratory droplets, which requires prolonged face-to-face contact. To infect a group of 30, a single infected person would need to be within a few feet of all the people when coughing or sneezing, or have contaminated an object that all the 30 touched.
Other routes of monkeypox transmission include from mother-to-foetus via the placenta or close contact after birth. However, contrary to social media accounts, monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease. Contact with infected lesions containing the virus during sex may explain why most of the identified cases are in men who have sex with other men.
Unlike the novel coronavirus, which can be spread by an asymptomatic person, monkeypox is contagious only when an infected person shows symptoms such as lesions and blisters. Symptoms appear within six to 13 days after infection and include fever, headache, backache, and muscle aches. Monkeypox also creates a rash, which can start on the face, hands, feet, or inside the mouth or genitals and progress to the rest of the body.
Dr. Obwogo noted that the case fatality rate for monkeypox is slightly higher than for Covid-19, but the odds of getting infected are lower. Risk of death is a function of probability of event occurring (contagiousness) and its impact (fatality rate). For example, although the rare brain-eating amoebas can cause 100 per cent fatality rate, the risk of getting infected is extremely rare.
The vaccine for smallpox provides lifetime immunity and neutralising immune responses against all human infectious poxviruses, including Variola major and Variola minor, the strains that cause smallpox and monkeypox, respectively. When infected, older adults who were vaccinated against smallpox decades ago are likely to get mild symptoms as they maintain a high level of antibodies to keep the virus at bay.
Lastly, the same measures used to protect oneself against the novel coronavirus—social distancing, wearing a mask in public, handwashing, and surface disinfections—will reduce the risk of getting monkeypox.
