The monkeypox that is now spreading around the world is a new variant that was discovered in 2017 by Dr. Dimie Ogoina, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Niger Delta University in Nigeria. Original monkeypox was not very transmissible between people, so children would get it from monkeys, it would spread a bit, and it would die out. This variant is more transmissible between people. The Nigerian outbreak was never controlled and has turned into a global epidemic. NPR report.
Reportedly (preprint paper, not peer-reviewed) neo-monkeypox continues to evolve through recombination.
I keep hearing that the epidemic is dying out but testing is thin and there isn’t testing a lot of testing outside the gay community. I hope it is dying out; if it breaks loose in the schools or jumps to an animal vector it’s going to be incredibly hard to control.
As of the NPR report on July 28th, not a single Nigerian had been vaccinated against monkeypox.
And, yes, poxviruses can infect birds. Croak!
1 comment:
People who say it is a disease of the gay community tend to get beaten on as we made that mistake before with HIV. I am sure that Republicans will react to it the same as they did to HIV and oppose vaccinations or any other form of control.
Post a Comment