🚨Here you go: What we know & don’t know about monkeypox, & how to think about the current outbreak.
One thing: It’s unique partly because it’s, er, happening amid a pandemic. Our reactions are deeply influenced by the last 3 years—in good & bad ways. 1/
https://t.co/SvEntsKEd3— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
Accueil / Résultats pour la recherche : "@edyong209"
It’s important to learn lessons from the past, but also to not just fight the last war. I’m seeing folks applying COVID principles directly to this outbreak & I can’t stress this enough: Monkeypox isn't COVID. Different diseases, viruses, implications. 2/ https://t.co/SvEntsKEd3
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
One major difference: COVID was completely new but monkeypox is a known quantity. People have studied it! There have been past outbreaks, which we’ve learned from! Actual monkeypox experts exist! I’m not one, but I talked to some! 3/ https://t.co/SvEntstBb3
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
Based on what we know, monkeypox doesn’t spread easily & not over long distances through the air. It needs close contact. Past outbreaks tell us that: they’re small, w/ transmission mostly to household members or HCWs. But waaait, I hear you say… 4/ https://t.co/SvEntsKEd3
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
Isn’t that what people said about COVID? Isn’t this aerosols/droplets again? I get it, but again, past outbreaks are inconsistent w/ coronavirus-like transmission. Linsey Marr, aerosol whiz: “Monkeypox does not scream ‘airborne’ at me; COVID-19 did.” 5/ https://t.co/SvEntst3lv
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
But! COVID should leave us humble to uncertainty. Monkeypox knowledge is limited cos the disease is rare. And scientists have long voiced concerns that the virus could become better at infecting people. (I wrote about this in 2010!) 6/ https://t.co/ZTzkwhkcjf
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
Here’s how: Smallpox vaccine protects against monkeypox, so s’pox eradication -> end of mass vax -> dwindling m’pox immunity -> 20x more cases in Congo -> more chances to better adapt to humans. The big Q: Has this already happened? 7/ https://t.co/SvEntsKEd3
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
The current outbreak is unusual. Outside Africa, m’pox outbreaks are usually single-digits & linked to travel or imported animals. Dozens of cases in 6/7 countries, some w/ no obv connections, suggests wider undetected spread. Which is def concerning. 8/ https://t.co/SvEntsKEd3
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
No one I talked to knows exactly why this is happening. Is it the virus? Hosts? Something else? Dunno. Be skeptical of people who are certain, esp. since answers are imminent. Sequencing will tell us more about the virus; expect info within days. 9/ https://t.co/SvEntstBb3
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022
In the meantime, some good news. The US was caught off-guard by the coronavirus but has spent decades thinking about smallpox bioterrorism. Plans exist; people know what they’re doing. CDC’s Andrea McCollum says “We’re a fairly well-oiled machine.” 10/ https://t.co/SvEntsKEd3
— Ed Yong (@edyong209) May 19, 2022