New outbreaks of a seldom-seen disease called monkeypox are setting public health experts on edge. Several countries, including the U.S., have recently reported cases of the viral infection. No deaths are reported so far, and the risk to the general public appears to be low for now. But it’s possible something has changed in the virus, or its relationship to humans, that’s making it more transmissible.
Countries with reported monkeypox cases
The first U.S. case involved a Massachusetts resident who recently traveled from Canada, where there have been 13 suspected cases. On late Thursday afternoon, New York City health officials reported a suspected monkeypox case, who is currently being treated at Bellevue Hospital.
At least 11 countries, including the UK, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, and the U.S. have documented cases of monkeypox. In the UK, the first reported case is believed to have contracted it while in Nigeria. Australia reported its first case Thursday, in someone who had recently traveled from the UK. Germany, France, and Belgium reported their first cases Friday morning and there are now believed to be around 100 reported cases worldwide.
Also this morning, the World Health Organization announced it will hold an emergency meeting over monkeypox, where experts will deliberate over whether to declare the outbreaks a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The last such major and ongoing outbreak to receive PHEIC status is the covid-19 pandemic.
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Monkeypox was first documented in Africa in the 1970s, and it’s been occasionally spotted on the continent since then. But it’s a zoonotic disease, meaning that infections are usually transmitted from animals to humans (despite the name, rodents are thought to be the primary vector) rather than between people. So these multiple outbreaks in several countries, with evidence of local transmission in some, are very different from what we’ve seen before, according to Andrew Pavia, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Utah. But there’s no clear answer yet as to why this is happening, he adds.
“In the past, human to human spread has occurred but has been quite limited. We don’t know that it is spreading more easily from person to person yet. That is one possible explanation, but I am not aware of any evidence to support that idea yet,” Pavia told Gizmodo in an email.
What is monkeypox virus?
Monkeypox is caused by its namesake virus, a member of the poxvirus family. It’s a close cousin to the smallpox virus, the only human germ so far to be fully eradicated. Like smallpox, monkeypox infection causes distinct bumpy rashes that usually start in the face and spread throughout the body, along with flu-like symptoms.
It takes one to three weeks following exposure for symptoms to begin, and people are usually sick for about two weeks. As many as 10% of victims can die from it, though the cases documented in the UK appear to be caused by a lineage of the virus known to be less virulent, with a fatality rate closer to 1%.
There are available tools against monkeypox that we could use if these outbreaks expand to become a greater threat. Smallpox vaccines should remain protective against monkeypox and can be given after exposure to prevent illness, so they can be used as a part of a “ring-vaccination” strategy to short-circuit outbreaks. There are approved antivirals that have shown effectiveness against poxvirus infections, as well.
Why is…
Read More: What Is Monkeypox And Where Is It Spreading?