Monkeypox?

[MonkeypoxThread]

Apologies if there is already a thread about this - the search function is useless atm! I will get this deleted if it's a duplication.

Just interested to read MNers views on this as I don't know what to make of the news reports, and I know there are very knowledgable MNers. I think it's hard for people with no knowledge of things like this, to gauge the "significance" of these cases from the news.

On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being "meh, whatever, fuck it" and 10 being "PANIC MODE ENABLED" I'm normally about a 3. Is that about right?

I'm not worried. BUT this is how it all started with covid, few posters, few more, loads saying stop being dicks, more saying worry, more saying stop it we won't ever lockdown.....

No I don't think this is going to be covid 2, but we shouldn't ever be complacent.

EmmaH2022 Not that I know of, she was mainly worried about passing it on to her partner who was pg. at the time but she didn't catch it.

I still haven't caught covid!! And it's not like I never tested, I was that dreaded "key worker" status in community care. I've taken more PCR and lateral flow tests than I've had hot dinners 🤣

What's the best I bloody end up with monkeypox instead by some weird way like someone coughing in a lift near me🤦🏻‍♀️

I'm about a 2 on the concerned scale of I'm honest. 20 cases in the UK, summer on the way, people getting together for a zero restrictions summer, international travel and what not. I do hope that covid gave track and trace enough practice to isolate and trace this quickly and prevent spread.

Worry if you hear ebola, not monkey pox... Hope those who have it are responding to treatment.

what is disconcerning though is how its popping up everywhere cos it's definitely an imported illness.

But the chances of getting ebola are so low.

Yes, it would get imported from time to time, but never really take hold. But here it is now, spreading in quite a few places.

I don't think it's currently a reason to be worried, but I do hope some boffins are looking at why it might be behaving a little differently right now

On your panic scale I'm about a 3.
There is lots of discussion about it on medical Twitter. They feel it's an unprecedented outbreak and either monkeypox has changed or people have. They're also annoyed at this insidious push to dismiss it as an STD mainly affecting men. It isn't.

I am not too worried. We can very quickly get the rest of the uk population vaccinated with a well known vaccine if needed, but it won’t be needed.

It is very hard to transmit, it’s not like covid where you just need to breathe on someone to pass it on.

In our very sterile part of the world I just don’t think a virus like this can take over, hence why chickenpox etc isn’t a virus we fear. Its endemic in really rural parts of Africa where they have really poor sanitation and lousy access to clean water etc.

If anything this teaches us, and as should our recovery from the covid pandemic in our rich country, that we should really be more empathic to countries who have to live with these kind of viruses all the time. Who see very high death rates for no reason just because they live in REAL poverty.

My world view has shifted and I am frightened and enraged that billions of people have to live in fear of viruses and bacterial infections as part of their daily lives. we have seen a really brief glimpse of this in our very privileged lives and still moan about how hard done we are.

I found the covid pandemic humbling and now looking at how I can support people who don’t have what we have more.

metro.co.uk/2022/05/20/russia-planned-to-use-monkeypox-as-a-bioweapon-report-warned-16680912/amp/

hmmm…

@PurplePill love ur post spot on

@AvocadoAndToast have you read that? The grammar and spelling is atrocious! Must have been typed in a hurry

I don't think I am seeing all posts on this thread as I can't see any by AvocadoAndToast - this has been an issue since the update! I've emailed MNHQ but just in case anyone thinks I'm not responding...

This thread though seems to demonstrate the root cause of the "how worried should I be?" problem as there is just so much different/conflicting information that people have seen from different sources (or in the course of their own employment or friends' employment...)

I guess we will just have to see what develops...

Love how you come here to ask the real grown ups 😁

Oh I can see the Avocado post and link now!

That's a nice grabby headline, but agree it's written extremely badly. WTF does this mean?

Jonathan Tucker, who left the UN Special Commission to work at the Monterey Institute think tank in Washington, told United Press International there was still a ‘real far’ that monkeypox could be engineered as a bioweapon.

I'm on Twitter & have noticed the people (usually Americans) who are always flogging some End Times narrative or other have pivoted from nuclear war to monkeypox. I guess we'll have a new Covid variant or something in a few months and they'll move on to that.

My fear rating is 0. Monkeypox has been around for a long time and the only reason we are hearing about it now is because the press know there's a lot of mileage in viruses. It doesn't spread easily, so is extremely unlikely to turn into a major outbreak.

No. I'm not going to shoot you down (and definitely no shitting ) but
a) monkeypox is a pox virus and an adenovirus is an adenovirus. Adenoviruses give humans colds, and more serious diseases, but not pox diseases.

b) the chimp adenovirus used in the AZ vaccine is a viral vector and has been altered so it can't replicate on its own

c) chimps aren't monkeys.

Take down the Christmas tree, put up the Covid decorations. Take down the Covid decorations, put up the war ones. Wrap up the war ones (oh wait… don’t be hasty) place them in the Christmas tree/Covid decs box, run out to buy Monkeypox bunting.

I’m about a 2 on this- to answer the OP’s question.

This is not the same as covid. It is not a completely new disease which has jumped the species barrier into humans and for which we have no known vaccine or know nothing about.

However, it does have the potential to be serious. We just don’t know yet.

Concerning aspects are:
Human-to-human transmission in unusually high numbers.
Multiple chains of transmission across the world which public health authorities can’t get a grip on yet (but are working hard to). This indicates quite a lot of community transmission which may have been under the radar.

It is not an STI.
it is transmitted just like chicken pox, skin to skin, fluids from the blisters, coughing on someone.
so if you are having sex with someone who is infected, it will likely be transmitted.

The WHO convened an emergency meeting on Friday about it. US and U.K. governments have exercised their options or agreed new orders for large amounts of new vaccine.

here are some great articles for expert infectious disease reporters.

www.science.org/content/article/monkeypox-outbreak-questions-intensify-cases-soar

www.statnews.com/2022/05/18/spain-portugal-report-monkeypox-cases-raising-specter-of-wider-outbreak/

CrunchyCarrot

“My fear rating is 0. Monkeypox has been around for a long time and the only reason we are hearing about it now is because the press know there's a lot of mileage in viruses. It doesn't spread easily, so is extremely unlikely to turn into a major outbreak.”

your fear rating may well be appropriate Crunchy but the reason we are hearing about it is because something odd is happening.

You can’t be certain of anything you said in your last sentence. The experts aren’t.

Monkeypox was previously very rarely transmitted between humans, especially outside of those regions of Africa where it is endemic.
This is concerning public health experts, epidemiologists and virologists alike.
Yes it has been around for ages but what we are seeing right now is new.

Transmissibility is thought to have been historically lower than say flu or covid .They don’t have a very good handle on its transmissibility because it was a neglected disease not affecting Western societies so people haven’t given it the attention it deserves (typical 🙄).

The fact is it is currently being transmitted between humans at far greater rates than expected and scientists are working hard to find out if this is due to
a) change in the virus
b) change in hosts (us)
c) environmental/circumstantial

That seems a good article in Science, thank you @everythingthelighttouches. The WHO comments are interesting.

I think I may be at a 4 on the scale now! Whilst I don't want this thread to become a CV Fight Club Thread like previous ones have, I think for me personally, CV has had a big impact here as all the CEV stuff has actually really made me feel extremely vulnerable. If I hadn't spent all that time being advised to shield and get an Advance Decision prepared, I don't think I would feel so worried about Monkeypox now.

I agree with PP it's important to keep good hygiene rules in place. I wonder if seeing the photos of rashes etc would be more likely to encourage people to social distance etc now (if required) as MP rash is a "real" physical manifestation that people can see IYSWIM? I think CV didn't feel as "real" in that way, as lung damage isn't visible and was only likely to occur in people with other conditions. But everyone has skin (and on MN a lot of us will have had DC with chicken pox) so it seems more of a threat?

I don't want this to become a MaskFight thread so I'm choosing my words carefully! I'm quite fond of social distancing myself as I don't really like people never mind health worries.

For those still feeling the panic of Covid this will set off fresh (probably unwarranted) panic that certain media will feed off.

Why is it popping up in cluster, s in different countries ?

Are older people still covered by the small pox vaccine that we got as children? (I assume I've had it as I was born in the late 1960s and they stopped vaccinating for small pox in 1972 in Ireland.)

It doesn't sound too serious, just unpleasant. If we can live with chicken pox without widespread panic then monkey pox will probably be ok too. It's less easy to catch than chicken pox and generally milder than chicken pox if you do catch it.