April 23, 2024
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Monkeypox is not the new COVID-19, 2 infection experts say

Bolden: ‘I would be a lot more concerned, to be honest, about COVID than I would be about monkeypox.’

By Denise M. Baran-Unland
This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely appears outside Africa, has been identified by European and American health authorities in recent days. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP)

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely appears outside Africa, has been identified by European and American health authorities in recent days. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP) (AP)

Two weeks ago Dr. Jonathan Pinsky, medical director of infection control at Edward Hospital in Naperville, believed most people didn’t need to worry about monkeypox, and that it’s unlikely to replace COVID-19 as a pandemic.

Now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued a Level 2 alert, should people be more concerned?

No, say both Pinsky and Dr. John Bolden, an infectious disease physician with Morris Hospital.

Level 2 suggests people be more aware of monkeypox symptoms and practice enhanced precautions, said Pinsky, who actually treated some of the nine patients involved in a small Midwest outbreak of monkeypox in 2003.

Dr. Jonathan Pinsky, Medical Director, Infection Control & Prevention, Edward Hospital.

Dr. Jonathan Pinsky is the medical director of infection control and prevention at Edward Hospital in Naperville. (Photo provided)

Enhanced precautions mean avoiding people who are sick, especially if they have skin lesions. It means avoiding contact with live or dead wild animals (especially small mammals), wild game or products made from wild animals, Pinksy said.

The CDC also said to avoid contact with bedding or clothing that a sick person used or that came into contact with a wild animal. Nevertheless, monkeypox is still predominantly transmitted person-to-person, Pinsky said, and animal to person, Bolden added.

“It’s still very rare,” Pinsky said. “And it’s still very unlikely that anyone is going to be exposed to it ... no one should worry too much that they’re going to get monkeypox.”

Didn’t health experts say that with COVID-19?

“COVID was a completely new infection,” Pinsky said. “It was a completely different virus. Monkeypox has been around for decades. We’re used to that transmission cycle.”

Pinsky said most of the reported cases were linked to travel and transmitted from one person to another through contact with active skin lesions. Rarely, monkeypox can be transmitted through close contact with respiratory droplets, he said.

But contact with the infected person has to be really close for infection to occur that route — and for an extended period of time, Bolden said.

Pinsky doesn’t believe people need to avoid travel. Monkeypox doesn’t transmit well on planes, he said.

“It’s a good idea to wear masks because of COVID,” Pinsky said. “Not monkeypox.”

Bolden agreed.

“I would be a lot more concerned, to be honest, about COVID than I would be about monkeypox,” Bolden said. “Plus, the transmission is a lot harder [with monkeypox] than it is with COVID. You need a lot of contact for monkeypox.”

Dr. John Bolden, infectious disease physician at Morris Hospital

Dr. John Bolden is an infectious disease physician at Morris Hospital. (Photo provided)

Bolden said he doubts monkeypox will come to Grundy County. People traveling to Europe or Africa should take precautions, especially if they are immunocompromised, he said.

A number of monkeypox treatments already are available. These include the smallpox vaccines, antivirals and vaccinia immune globulin, Bolden said.

Prevention includes good hand hygiene and avoiding contact with someone who is obviously sick and has a rash, Bolden said.

Other symptoms of monkeypox are fever, headache, muscle aches, headache and swollen lymph nodes, Bolden said.