The World Health Organization (WHO) this month declared the widening spread of the mpix virus a global health crisis, warning that the virus could eventually spread from Africa — where it is currently spreading — to other parts of the world.
But public health officials and medical experts are quick to note that mpox (which the WHO renamed from “monkey pox” in 2022) is very different from COVID-19.
In an effort to separate fact from fiction, PEOPLE spoke with Dr. Karl Minges. MPH, associate professor of public health at the University of New Haven, about the virus and how it is now spreading.
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Is mpox the new COVID-19?
In a word: no. “The WHO made it painfully clear that this is not the new COVID in their announcement of this as an emergency alert,” Minges tells PEOPLE.
As Minges explains, the WHO issues these types of emergency alerts to “encourage acceleration of vaccine access for lower-income countries.”
In other words, the declaration of a “global health emergency” is not necessarily a means of warning people around the world that they may come into contact with the virus – but to enable entities like UNICEF to “procure vaccine for distribution”.
“It’s a way to get more tools to support those in the hardest hit areas,” Minges adds.
Unlike COVID-19 in its early days, much more is known about mpox, which was “first identified in the late 1950s in laboratory monkeys,” Minges says.
“Human cases have been documented since the 1970s and a lot more is known about it,” he adds.
The reason more people are talking about mpox on TikTok, Instagram and in news articles is because of the new variant.
“Like most viruses, it mutated,” notes Minges. “But we understand the value of disease surveillance, monitoring and prevention — and it’s also important to note that a vaccine is available and approved by the FDA. There’s a lot more fidelity in treating this than in [COVID-19 back when the pandemic first started].”
Mpox will no longer be declared a public health emergency in January
Is mpox an emergency in the US?
Not right now. The Biden administration declared the virus a public health emergency in August 2022, following criticism of the government’s lack of response. At the time, the government announced it would increase testing for the virus and increase the country’s limited supply of measles vaccine.
However, as of January 2023, the US government has announced that it is lifting the emergency public health alert for measles, citing a significant drop in the number of cases.
Since then, the virus has continued to spread to other parts of the world, with the WHO estimating that there are more than 14,000 cases in Africa this year – a number that exceeds last year’s figures by 160%. What is perhaps more concerning is that the virus has mutated, although no cases of the new mutation (known as Clade I) have been reported in the US.
How does the new variant of the virus differ from the one that spread in 2022?
The Clade I variant, says Minges, is “more serious, with a higher fatality rate” — but again, the reported cases have been almost entirely in Africa and Asia (except for one recently reported case in Sweden).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that Clade I “causes more serious illness and death” and that “some outbreaks have killed up to 10% of those affected” — although the agency notes that recent outbreaks have had lower fatality rates. Clade I is endemic to Central Africa.
The variant that spread in 2022 is known as Clade II, which causes less serious infections (more than 99.9% of people with Clade II mpox survive, according to the CDC). Clade II expanded in the USA, although expansion has since decreased.
The way the variant spreads may also be different, although the virus is still being studied as it evolves.
The Clade II virus predominantly affects homosexual and bisexual men. Children are responsible for about two-thirds of the estimated 20,000 suspected cases of the newer Clade I variant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as of January 2023, according to a CDC report.
As Minges notes, both variants also have a “zoonotic transmission element,” meaning it can be spread between animals and humans (either by ingesting the uncooked meat of an infected animal or by touching an infected animal).
However, human-to-human contact, mostly within households, remains the biggest concern with the current spread of the virus in Africa.
Most monkeypox patients who were hospitalized were HIV positive, the CDC says
Should people be worried about contracting the virus if they travel to an infected area?
Minges says the most important thing to do when traveling abroad to places with known outbreaks of smallpox is to get vaccinated.
“There is an approved vaccine [and that offers the] the best protection you can have,” he says. “It’s two doses, delivered four weeks apart. And if someone has already had measles, they don’t need the vaccine because the body has developed resistance.”
If you are traveling to a country with a measles outbreak, it is also important to reduce your risk during sexual intercourse or any type of close personal contact with someone who may have the virus or appears to have the rash. But protection goes beyond sex, he notes.
“If you’re traveling and going to raves, parties, clubs or areas where there is little clothing, there can be direct skin-to-skin contact where you may not be able to see or be aware of someone’s rash,” he says. “Avoid risky social gatherings in an area where there is an outbreak of measles.”
As with any virus, disinfection and hand washing should also be a priority.
“As always, people at risk, children and the elderly are the ones who should consider getting vaccinated, if they are going to be around high-risk groups, with a higher transmission rate,” he adds. “The new variant has been shown to be more easily transmissible, but, again, there have been no documented cases in North America at this time.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education