Monkeypox is not Covid. Here’s why

WHO describes what we know about Monkeypox virus transmission

A new virus outbreak is detected. It is spreading case by case, country by country around the globe. The health authorities are taking action, tracking infections and issuing guidelines.

“This is not Covid,” said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, a veterinarian and associate director of the CDC’s Division of Pathogens and Serious Consequence Pathology, in a statement last week.

US President Joe Biden has also tried to erase the link between the two diseases in the public mind. “I just don’t think it reaches the level of concern that has existed with Covid-19,” Biden told reporters during a recent trip to Tokyo. It was a sharp departure from comments he had made the previous day when he said “everyone should be concerned”.

Of course, several leaders tried to reassure citizens when Covid-19 first emerged, only for this virus to grow into a one-off pandemic.

So how exactly is monkeypox different from Covid – and why are experts so far more relaxed about this outbreak?

Most importantly, monkeypox is not spread as easily as Covid-19. “Respiratory spread is not the predominant concern” in monkeypox, McQuiston said. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is only transmitted between people when there is very close contact with an infected person – e.g. B. when sharing clothing or bedding or through saliva.

Monkeypox symptoms, particularly the rash that usually appears on a person’s body, are also more detectable than Covid-19 symptoms. And asymptomatic spread – which complicated early efforts to contain Covid – has not been documented in monkeypox, according to a 2020 study.

“Monkeypox can be a serious infection,” Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton in the UK, told CNN last week, particularly in low-income countries where follow-up and treatments are not readily available. There are no reported deaths from the current outbreak.

However, in the developed world, “it would be very unusual to see more than a handful of cases in an outbreak, and we won’t see (Covid)-style transmission levels,” Head said.

But perhaps most importantly, monkeypox is not a new disease. Smallpox vaccines can be used to fight the virus, there is a wealth of scientific research into how the disease works, and it does not mutate as quickly as Covid-19.

So if monkeypox headlines take you back to March 2020, it’s worth taking a swipe.

“This is a virus that we understand: we have vaccines for it, we have treatments for it, and it spreads very differently than SARS-Cov-2 – it’s not as contagious as Covid – so I’m confident we do.” will be able to wrap our arms around it,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, to ABC’s Martha Raddatz on Sunday.

YOU ASKED. WE HAVE ANSWERED.

Q: Is Covid-19 contagious after treatment with Paxlovid?

A: People who have a relapse of Covid-19 after treatment with the antiviral drug Paxlovid can still be contagious, but they may not know it if they don’t have symptoms.

“People who experience a rebound are at risk of transmitting to other people despite being outside of what people accept as the usual window for the possibility of transmission,” said Dr. Michael Charness of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Boston.

Charness and his colleagues have been working with a team of researchers from Columbia University to study cases of Covid-19 returning after Paxlovid treatment. He said they have found at least two cases where people have passed the virus on to others when their infection recurs.

Submit your questions here. Are you a healthcare worker battling Covid-19? Let us know what challenges you are facing on WhatsApp: +1 347-322-0415.

READING OF THE WEEK

Shanghai is finally “reopening” but the trauma of the lockdown lives on

Skyscrapers lit up, streets filled with traffic, and young people drank and danced in the streets while fireworks roared overhead.

As of Wednesday morning, most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents can leave their communities, shops and office buildings can reopen, cars are back on the streets and subways and buses are resuming operations.

Shanghai celebrated Wednesday with a long-awaited burst of life as the government lifted its citywide lockdown. But the reopening process is likely to be slow and painful as residents of the financial center grapple with the trauma of the past two months.

Has Covid restricted your dating life? Date Night will make a comeback

The pandemic seemed like the perfect opportunity to nurture a relationship with unlimited access to your partner, uninterrupted togetherness, and plenty of time for intimacy.

But as most of us know, lockdowns have had the opposite effect on romance. Living on top of each other, not taking off your pajamas and sometimes not taking a shower was the epitome of not sexy.

Sex therapist Madelyn Esposito-Smith said that Covid-19 has “burned away” “sexual desire” for cohabiting couples, removing all “scheming and mystery” and making alone time a “precious commodity”.

With summer around the corner, it’s time to bring back something we’ve been missing, maybe without realizing it: date night.

North Korea could reconsider restrictions after claiming its Covid outbreak is improving

North Korea says its Covid-19 outbreak is improving and is therefore considering revising its anti-epidemic regulations, according to its state media.

KCNA reported Sunday that leader Kim Jong Un and other senior officials assessed the pandemic situation as “improving” and discussed adjusting containment measures.

Pyongyang reported more than 89,500 new “fever cases” and 106,390 recoveries nationwide between Friday and Saturday night, but did not mention whether there had been other deaths.

According to KCNA, the latest death toll in the country was 69 late last week. However, North Korea’s lack of independent reporting makes it difficult to verify the figures and there has long been widespread skepticism about the country’s Covid reporting .

TOP TIP

If you suffer from Covid for a long time, take it easy

If you’re not feeling well in the weeks following a Covid-19 infection, you need to be willing to take things slow and manage your expectations of what you can and can’t do.

dr Erica Spatz, associate professor of cardiology at the Yale School of Medicine, said a common complaint is that even just walking feels terrible. When you get back into exercise, “start with five to 10 minutes on a recumbent bike or a rowing machine and add a few minutes each week,” she suggested.

This “go slow” advice applies to all ongoing effects of Covid, including cognition.

Listen to our podcast

You’ve probably experienced feelings of calm and happiness at the beach or by a lake, but it turns out that being close to water actually has proven psychological and physical benefits. dr CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta talks to environmental psychologist Mathew White about the science behind water and why we all need more Blue Space in our lives. Listen.