The crucial differences between monkeypox and COVID

Also: Why pregnancy complications increased during the pandemic [View in browser](    [❤️]( August 16, 2022 Hi CommonHealth reader, Are the [headlines about monkeypox]( bringing up memories of the early days of COVID? There are parallels between the current monkeypox outbreak and the COVID pandemic: An unexpected disease spreading quickly. Public health agencies unprepared. People scrambling to find vaccines, treatments and tests. But as I talk to experts about monkeypox, some important differences are becoming clear. The way it spreads We now know that COVID can spread through respiratory particles in the [air](. But monkeypox usually spreads through contact with skin or with the bedding or clothing of an infected person. That typically means a sexual partner or other close contact — not a stranger in the grocery store. In other words, the risk to the general population is lower. “It's not like with COVID, where everyone is at risk,” said Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez, infectious disease physician and associate hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center. “With monkeypox, the spread is really direct contact with infectious rash and scabs and body fluid. And it's intimate skin-to-skin direct contact." The severity of disease Monkeypox can cause a painful or itchy rash on the genitals, hands, feet, face and other areas — as well as fever and other flu-like symptoms. But most people recover at home. Very few need to be hospitalized, and deaths worldwide have been exceedingly rare. The [CDC has has counted]( more than 11,000 cases of monkeypox in the U.S. — including more than 200 cases in Massachusetts — but no deaths. COVID, by comparison, has been far more deadly, especially before vaccines and treatments became widely available. And during surges, COVID patients overwhelmed hospitals to the point that they had to cut back on other care. The population affected COVID has affected everyone, from babies to the elderly. It has spread in schools, workplaces and nursing homes. It has been especially harmful to older people and those with underlying health problems. The vast majority of recent monkeypox cases have been among men who have sex with men. The disease is not sexually transmitted, but it appears to be spreading during intimate and sexual contact. “We’re not seeing a rapid spread outside of that population, which is a good sign,” said Dr. Andrew Jorgensen, chief medical officer at Outer Cape Health Services. Still, monkeypox presents a new test for a health care system weathered by the pandemic. The task now is to vaccinate as many at-risk people as possible and try to contain this still-growing outbreak. 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