MPox

[SSpratt]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg35w27gzno

Not sure how worried to be about the latest news on MPox (previously Monkey Pox). A couple of years ago I had some minor surgery and there were warnings/advice posters all over the hospital about this disease, then it all died down. Anyone worried about catching it? I wasn’t until I read that it can be caught from talking to someone, originally we were told that it was spread via sexual contact.

It's crossed wires, we're writing about 2 different women

Both pretty nasty racists 🤷‍♀️

I think @MissEsmeWatson was referring to the other woman.

Edit: wrong quote. Meant to quote @LaurieFairyCake. should probably just give up and go to bed at this point 😂

Can the derailers have a different thread? Please.

That would be a good idea!

There was always a more fatal one IIRC but that never really made it out of one area. Is it a version of that or a completely new one?

The UK statistics are easy to Google.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monkeypox-outbreak-epidemiological-overview/mpox-monkeypox-outbreak-epidemiological-overview-8-august-2024

There is global surveillance and has been a lot of genome sequencing of the virus since the 2022 outbreak, so there is already some understanding of it, which should be reassuring. The WHO are being very responsible in how they are handling it.

It's spreading in Canada right now. Still relatively low numbers, and mostly in Toronto and Vancouver, but enough to be concerning.

Well we waited until covid was established in the UK before limiting entry into the country …. And then went into lockdown. An awful time. So hope they have better plans for this disease which is a much more serious strain and sounds like no vaccine, treatment and is spread by talking to someone even.

Not true about no vaccine. There's an effective one being used here in Canada (and probably elsewhere) already.

My understanding is that it’s a version of that but it has spread out of that area and is epidemic in several countries and they don’t really know why. The PHEIC is because, that being the case, it has the potential to spread beyond the continent.

What have the comments about mosques or refugees being blown up got to do with mpox - can you move to a different thread

re mpox - there is a vaccine in the West but not Africa. That was rolled out pretty quickly in 2022 in the UK for the previous strain so hopefully they can immobilise that now?

So on top of a possible WW3 coming out of Ukraine and the middle east, endemic violence against women and girls, people being stabbed all over the place and riots on the streets....we now face another deadly pandemic.

Anyone else feel we are coming to the End of Days? Only half joking.

Oh that is good to hear! Hope UK has stocks

And Africa also can get vaccines!

I think part of the issue is that there isn’t enough vaccine. And it’s going to be difficult to get countries to give up some of their supply to poorer African countries that need it. Even though that’s where it would do most good right now

There's been 13700 cases since the start of the year, compared with somewhere over 10000 covid cases in the UK within 3 months of the initial outbreak. So that seems reassuring to me on how infectious it is. It's a bit worrying though

Sorry, that's wrong information, it's that number of cases in one country

If I remember correctly the mpox vaccine is essentially a smallpox vaccine. So there were stocks of it in e.g. the UK but perhaps not elsewhere.

I need to do some reading but my usual measure of how worried I should be comes from a friend who works in health emergency planning. The person in question worries about everything: the weather, infectious diseases, the state of hospitals. They have not worried at me at all about mpox so currently I'd say not too concerned.

As I’m not a man having sex with other men in a Central African country, no, OP, I’m not overly worried about catching it.

I think you need to read up a little more on it.

Mpox is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.

Also

“WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond "is very worrying".

It is also spread through close physical contact and would spread very rapidly through children in a nursery setting for example so it would be something to worry about it it became more widespread. Hopefully we could get ahead of it with vaccination if needed.

My son is going to central Africa next month. I am (slightly) worried about it. He'll still go and have a great time I'm sure, but I'll still be keeping a close eye on the news and health reports.

Then maybe make a thread about it?