This would be Dr. Klotman’s 123rd weekly COVID update, but he decided to take a much-deserved week off. Instead of his usual update, he recorded a Best of Lily YouTube session featuring his long-haired wiener dog Lily. So, instead of posting that here, I have decided to post a few comments on Monkeypox – an orthopox virus.
- As you probably know, the WHO has declared this communicable disease an International Public Health Emergency. This designation calls up a coordinated international response to the spread of this disease.
- The CDC has designated Monkeypox a reportable condition. This means that all states are required to record and report all cases so that we can have a coordinated national response.
- As with SARS-CoV-2, our public health response has been slow and stumbling. We do not have adequate resources for testing, contact tracing, or vaccination. Congress will be slow to appropriate the resources needed to address this new epidemic, and we will likely miss the window to stop its spread. Sigh, we are a dull people.
- The mortality rate for this virus is somewhere between 4-6%. It is much less infectious than Smallpox or COVID for that matter. So, that’s a good thing.
- This virus is a double-stranded DNA virus with far fewer genetic base pairs than COVID. So, it is very stable; it is unlikely to mutate wildly as COVID has. That means that existing vaccine made for smallpox will be effective.
- Those of us old enough to have been vaccinated for smallpox may have some immunity to this new pox virus, but that isn’t guaranteed. The older we get, the less responsive is our immune system.
- While the virus appears to be spreading predominantly among gay men, it is not an STI. Having sex with an infected person is not necessary for transmission. It is sufficient to touch a person who has the disease (especially if the person has pox lesions), spend time talking with an infected person (respiratory droplet transmission), or touch items that an infected person has touched (fomite transmission).
- You will remember that HIV initially spread as an STI among gay men, but later it affected straight individuals because it IS an STI. Expect Monkeypox to spread among straight individuals because people touch one another, spend time talking together, and sometimes touch one another’s clothing/furniture/things in the course of non-sexual social interactions.
Do as you think best, but I’m still wearing a mask in public, avoiding close contact with strangers, and observing personal distancing.
Now, since Dr. Klotman decided to give us a moment with Lily, I am going to give you a moment with Kedi. Here she is helping us manage a basket of freshly dried laundry.
