COVID and Monkeypox – How are they different?

As cases of monkeypox spread around the world, the medical community remains Causes of spikesIt raises some alarms and may cause an early memory of COVID-19.

However, health experts say that monkeypox has a similar effect on the coronavirus and is unlikely to cause a global pandemic. This is mainly because monkeypox is not a new virus and does not spread in the same way as COVID-19.

So far, there are 26 confirmed cases of monkeypox. 25 in Canada, 25 in Quebec, 1 in Ontario.

Outbreaks of the virus have been found in Europe and Australia as well as in the United States. The Czech Republic and Slovenia recently reported the first case, and 18 countries are currently detecting the virus outside of West Africa and Central Africa.

“We expect to see more cases as surveillance expands, but this is not COVID and needs to be explained in context,” said the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 technology. Leader Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove said in a live online Q & A on Monday.

CTVNews.ca analyzes the origin of the monkeypox virus and how its importance differs from COVID-19.

Monkeypox is not a new virus, and we already know how it spreads

Monkeypox was discovered in 1958. It is a rare disease caused by a virus that belongs to the same family as the virus that causes smallpox.

The disease was initially discovered in a monkey colony used in the study. The first human case was not found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo until 1970. It was two years after the smallpox was eradicated in this area.

Monkeypox “does not spread easily among humans,” but can be transmitted by direct contact with contaminants such as large respiratory droplets, skin lesions, body fluids, and clothing, says his doctor, Ronda. Dr. Rowe told CTV Morning Live on Wednesday.

Large flügge droplets generally do not travel far and require long periods of close contact to infect the disease.

COVID-19 spreads much easier. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it does not require skin-to-skin contact to spread and can be transmitted at “conventional distances”.

The virus can spread during a conversation with an infected person or when the infected person shares a room with you. The virus spreads fastest in poorly ventilated rooms.

A prominent symptom of monkeypox is a rash that usually begins on the face and spreads to the limbs and other parts of the body.

“People seem to be infectious only when they have those skin lesions,” Law said. “The risk to the general public is low, but I want to know if it exists.”

Experts believe that the current outbreak of monkeypox is spread by close and intimate skin-to-skin contact with people suffering from an active rash. Experts say that once an infection is identified, it should help contain the spread.

“If you overtake someone in a grocery store, you’re not at risk of monkeypox,” said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. briefing on monday.

Vaccines that can protect against monkeypox currently exist

The Orthopox family of viruses includes monkeypox and smallpox. Smallpox, which killed millions of people each year, was eradicated in 1980 thanks to successful global vaccination efforts. Regular smallpox immunity to the general population ended in 1972 in Canada and the United States.

According to WHO, the smallpox vaccine can continue to be used for protection from monkeypox and is more than 85% effective.

There are also new vaccines approved for monkeypox in 2019, but availability is limited. WHO also states that an antiviral drug developed for smallpox, known as tecovirimat, was approved for monkeypox by the European Medical Association in 2022, but is not yet widely available.

Smallpox antivirals can also be used to treat monkeypox under certain circumstances, a US Department of Health and Welfare spokesman said in a statement.

In Canada, PHAC states that it has shipped a small amount of cargo to Quebec. Smallpox Vaccine from Canada’s National Emergency Strategic Stockpile ImvamuneIn other jurisdictions you can get some supply.

In April, Public Services and Procurement Canada submitted a bid to purchase 500,000 Imvamune vaccines between 2023 and 2028.

PHAC also states that monkeypox herd immunity is currently not needed.

COVID-19 is more contagious and more deadly

COVID-19 was considered One of the most infectious viruses in the worldThe main reason why it spread rapidly.

Medical researchers measure the infectivity of a virus by determining the basic reproduction number (R0) of the virus. This number measures the number of people who are likely to be infected with one sick person.

A R0 of 1 means that the average carrier is expected to infect the other one. If R0 is less than 1, the virus will disappear spontaneously, and the higher the number, the more likely it is to be outbreak, pandemic, or pandemic.

For the original version of COVID-19 in 2020, The number was between 2 and 3.. That number is probably more than double that of the Omicron variants. Recent studies show..

The R0 of monkeypox has not yet been determined, but according to WHO, it is believed to be much less than the R0 of COVID.

Previously, the longest recorded chain of monkeypox infections was human-to-human transmission over four generations, and Health Canada suggested that “the potential for epidemic epidemics is limited.” It states that it is.

Monkeypox is also less deadly than COVID. Although there are more serious strains of the virus, Law said most of the reported cases were mild infections.

“It disappears spontaneously in 2-4 weeks without treatment,” she said.

In Africa, 1-10 percent of people infected with monkeypox die. Child mortality is high.

According to WHO, the recent case fatality rate is about 3-6%, but suspected cases in Montreal and other foreign countries appear to be mild.

With files from Solarina Ho and Associated Press

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