The Monkeypox Scare: Recommended Reading

Next day:

EVERYBODY CALM DOWN (for the moment).  The status quo hasn’t, as far as I can tell, changed much since my last post:  Monkeypox is a known viral infection, for which we have a workable (smallpox) vaccine, that has now been diagnosed in approximately a hundred persons (almost entirely — so far — men who have sex with men) in countries (Europe, America, Canada, Israel, Australia) where it’s a novelty, at a time when doctors are a little gun-shy about ‘novel’ diseases.  Here’s the best short summary I’ve seen so far:

… In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. David Heymann, who formerly headed WHO’s emergencies department, said the leading theory to explain the spread of the disease was sexual transmission among gay and bisexual men at two raves held in Spain and Belgium. Monkeypox has not previously triggered widespread outbreaks beyond Africa, where it is endemic in animals.

“We know monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with the lesions of someone who is infected, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission,” said Heymann…

To date, WHO has recorded more than 90 cases of monkeypox in a dozen countries including Britain, Spain, Israel, France, Switzerland, the U.S. and Australia.

Madrid’s senior health official said on Monday that the Spanish capital has recorded 30 confirmed cases so far. Enrique Ruiz Escudero said authorities are investigating possible links between a recent Gay Pride event in the Canary Islands, which drew some 80,000 people, and cases at a Madrid sauna.

Heymann chaired an urgent meeting of WHO’s advisory group on infectious disease threats on Friday to assess the ongoing epidemic and said there was no evidence to suggest that monkeypox might have mutated into a more infectious form…

WHO said confirmed cases have so far been the less severe West African group of monkeypox viruses and appeared to be linked to a virus that was first detected in exported cases from Nigeria to Britain, Israel and Singapore in 2018-2019.

The U.N. agency said the outbreak is “a highly unusual event” and said the fact that cases are being seen in so many different countries suggests the disease may have been silently spreading for some time. The agency’s Europe director warned that as summer begins across the continent, mass gatherings, festivals and parties could accelerate the spread of monkeypox…

Heymann, who is also a professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the monkeypox outbreak was likely a random event that might be traceable to a single infection.

“It’s very possible there was somebody who got infected, developed lesions on the genitals, hands or somewhere else, and then spread it to others when there was sexual or close, physical contact,” Heymann hypothesized. “And then there were these international events that seeded the outbreak around the world, into the U.S. and other European countries.”

He emphasized that the disease was unlikely to trigger widespread transmission.

“This is not COVID,” he said. “We need to slow it down, but it does not spread in the air and we have vaccines to protect against it.” Heymann said studies should be conducted rapidly to determine if monkeypox could be spread by people without symptoms and that populations at risk of the disease should take precautions to protect themselves.

 

Per the BBC:

What worries me, right now, is the potential for all the worst people to make things uglier by stigmatizing a minority, fundraising on others’ problems while ginning up paranoia among their deluded followers:

 

 

 

For the truly worried, or obsessed:

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May 23, 2022 by COVID-19 Coronavirus Open Threads

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8 Responses

  1. MisterForkbeard says:
    May 23, 2022 at 10:44 AM

    My understanding has always been:

    1) It’s not very communicable
    2) We have a working vaccine for it
    3) Not many people have it

    If two of these were wrong it would be call for concern, but right now it’s just media and Republicans yammering about it for the same reason.

  2. Joe Falco says:
    May 23, 2022 at 10:49 AM

    Wouldn’t be surprised if the disinformation peddlers worked in an angle that the monkeypox came from all those made-up “bio labs” supposedly in Ukraine that those wily Americans were using as fronts to develop bio and chemical weapons against a peaceful Russia.

  3. WereBear says:
    May 23, 2022 at 10:55 AM

    It’s very low on my list as I doubt I’ll be exposed as this rate. The two hours I just spent stocking up the domicile is the most I expect to be out among the public this week.

    Pandemic is a great time to work on a new book 🙂

  4. Enhanced Voting Techniques says:
    May 23, 2022 at 11:21 AM

    The archaeologist in Africa I know on line was saying that part of the initiation into a Warlord’s gang is to sexualy assualt a chimpanze. So now we have Monkeypox, thanks murderous Warlords. Admittedly she takes a dim view of African Warlords since one of them murdered her husband, but still.

    And why doesn’t Rand Paul move to some failed African states since that’s his idea of paradise?

  5. CaseyL says:
    May 23, 2022 at 11:33 AM

    “And why doesn’t Rand Paul move to some failed African states since that’s his idea of paradise?”

    If Rand Paul moved to anywhere in Africa, I’d feel sorry for them and happy for us. If he moved there and got monkeypox, I might even throw a party.

  6. MaiNaem mobile says:
    May 23, 2022 at 1:28 PM

    I saw this article a couple of days ago. https://oxpeckers.org/2022/05/drcs-great-ape-trade/
    I couldn’t finish reading the article because I can’t deal with the cruelty here. What got me though was that the guy’s Swiss customers only wanted bushmeat. This article is written in 2022. After COVID, Ebola and AIDS why would somebody want to eat bushmeat. Also in Switzerland? WTF. Why would wealthy people want to keep apes as pets in China and Dubai? Aren’t the wealthy in China more likely to have gone abroad and been educated abroad. Dubai is the same deal.

  7. Old Man Shadow says:
    May 23, 2022 at 1:45 PM

    So…. you’re saying we should all panic and run into the streets screaming and fighting with our neighbors to the death over toilet paper?

  8. Stephen says:
    May 24, 2022 at 12:19 AM

    I suspect the gents initially fingered as responsible for this outbreak would’ve been better off spanking the monkey. Sorry, not sorry…

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