More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, now global health officials have sounded the alarm over outbreaks of monkeypox – a type of viral infection more common to western and central Africa – in Europe and the Americas with concerning spikes in the number of cases.
As of Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated about 90 confirmed infections and 30 suspected cases in at least 12 member states. So, let's see what we know about the current outbreak and the relative risk of monkeypox.
Mild danger
The risk to the general public is low at this time, a U.S. public health official told reporters at a briefing on Friday.
Monkeypox is a virus that can cause symptoms including fever and aches, and presents with a distinctive bumpy rash.
It is related to smallpox, but is usually milder, particularly the West African strain of the virus, which has a fatality rate of around 1%. Most people fully recover in two to four weeks, the official said.
The virus is not as easily transmitted as the SARS-CoV-2 virus that spurred the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Experts believe the current monkeypox outbreak is being spread through close, intimate skin-on-skin contact with someone who has an active rash. That should make its spread easier to contain once infections are identified, experts said.
"COVID-19 is spread by respiratory route and is highly infectious. This doesn't appear to be the case with the monkeypox," said Dr. Martin Hirsch of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Many – but not all – of the people who have been diagnosed in the current monkeypox outbreak are men who have sex with men, including cases in Spain linked to a sauna in the Madrid region.
The concern
The recent outbreaks reported so far are atypical, according to the WHO, as they are occurring in countries where the virus does not regularly circulate. Scientists are seeking to understand the origin of the current cases and whether anything about the virus has changed.
Most of the cases reported so far have been detected in the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal. There have also been cases in Canada, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Israel and the United States.
WHO officials have expressed concern that more infections could arise as people gather for festivals, parties and holidays during the coming summer months in Europe and elsewhere.
Protection
The United Kingdom has begun to inoculate health care workers who may be at risk while caring for patients with the smallpox vaccine, which can also protect against monkeypox. The U.S. government says it has enough smallpox vaccine stored in its Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to vaccinate the entire U.S. population.
There are antiviral drugs for smallpox that could also be used to treat monkeypox under certain circumstances, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
More broadly, health officials say that people should avoid close personal contact with someone who has a rash illness or who is otherwise unwell. People who suspect they have monkeypox should isolate and seek medical care.
Why now?
"Viruses are nothing new and expected," said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
Rasmussen said a number of factors, including increased global travel as well as climate change, have accelerated the emergence and spread of viruses. The world is also more on alert to new outbreaks of any kind in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.