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?

Hi all, my wife is in her second trimester. Just after a bit of advice really - should we be worried given she's a bit more vulnerable? Any extra precautions anyone would advise? Thanks all

Sadly so have I. Family member with form for saying dickhead things advised me to maybe avoid my gay friends for the foreseeable in case they give me monkeypox. Also overheard two people on a train talking about asylum seekers and immigrants, specifically how "they" have "brought their diseases over here and given them to our people".

It's going to be horrific if this takes off in a big way, not just glfor those who contract it but also in terms of widening the divisions in our society.

At this stage she should just take whatever hygiene precautions she would usually take in day to day life - washing hands, avoiding visibily unwell people, etc. If she's worried then she should speak to her midwife at her next appointment who will have up to date advice relevant to her situation.

@everythingthelighttouches That article is behind a paywall - can you give us a flavour of it? Who is the source, and what are they saying?

The smallpox vaccine was only used as ring vaccination only for some years before it was finally withdrawn in 1971. Most people under the age of about 65 will have missed the routine vaccination, and only a proportion of those 55-65 will have had it, depending on their proximity to the last confirmed cases. As protection wanes (especially if you had only one dose) then we're looking at a pretty much immune naive population.

Given that it seems to be spreading through sexual contact, you shouldn't need to worry unless you're sleeping around. Stop that, if you are, and don't start fretting over it because the anxiety will do more harm that the pox.

1 - although I wouldn't actually f* it.

Why is everyone blasè about it circulating freely in parts of Africa but it's a big upset now that there are community spread cases in the West?

Is this a serious question? Why are people worried about it circulating where they could possibly catch it but not where they can't?

not worried a bit and ive been in new york and boston in the past week

Yeah this is a bit daft. I don’t shit myself personally when there’s a tornado in Ohio the way I would if I looked out the window and saw one raging in my street. Doesn’t mean I think American lives are worth less

This article is relatively informative.

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/22/monkeypox-uk-health-security-agency-to-announce-more-cases

I have seen it in infants in Sub-Saharan Africa back in the 1980s. It' was horrible to see, and I would be concerned if it started to spread among infants here, especially given the state of the NHS where I live.
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A lot of people my age who had the Smallpox vaccine as children seem to think they will be immune - they won't be. The smallpox vaccine does not last for life.
Concern level 3 - for kids and immunocompromised people. Otherwise, not worried.

Sorry, when I first went to the article I could read it but thereafter the link doesn’t work.

try Googling ft EU health agency advises member states to plan for monkeypox jabs

then look under the news section.

I’ve still got the window open.

here’s copy paste of the first couple of paragraphs:

”The EU’s infectious-disease agency is to recommend that member states prepare strategies for possible vaccination programmes ….

The Stockholm-based ECDC noted it was “not an easy decision” to recommend smallpox vaccination of close monkeypox contacts at this stage and said a risk-benefit analysis for each affected individual should be undertaken. The vaccine available in the EU, Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic’s Imvanex, is not authorised for use against monkeypox and there is no safety data on its use in those who are immunocompromised or in young children, those at highest risk from the disease, the ECDC said.”

O. I was exposed to TB, and I caught swine flu through work. It was fine.
I wasn't really worried about covid until school was shut. Even then, although I took precautions, I never went to panic stage.
When mad cow desease happened, my native country banned people lived in UK for past 6 months to donate blood. I was living totally fine in Uk. Maybe still the same now, i don't know. Maybe my blood is tainted. Doesn't make any difference to my life.
I will start to worry once it start to affect me and my family personally, or if there are dangers that my family can be affected.

I really dont think people will stomach another lockdown

I'd start to be pretty concerned

Why? Its not particularly transmissible.

Where are you getting big numbers of mostly children affected though? Its been spreading through sex parties!
And no fatalities to date either.
Its R is 1, so no exponential growth.

If there are suddenly media articles about how MONKEYPOX WILL KILL THOUSANDS shortly, we'll know that the report into the Downing Street parties includes tales of Boris pole dancing whilst singing 'kill the poor'

Sue Gray is apparently going to release photos over the next few days.

Dear god I fear going back to masks and restrictions more than this disease !

Nobody would bother complying though so it could potentially start to take a hold and spread

If it gets to be a problem they will just vaccinate children with the vaccine we already have. It’s not a big deal. It’s not airborne so we won’t have to stay at home.