Can monkeypox virus become a pandemic like Covid-19? Here's what experts say

Even as the monkey virus is taking more and more countries under its grip, there is a genuine concern as to whether this will also become a pandemic like the novel coronavirus which too the world by storm in 2020 and since then has spread to most countries around the globe. 

There are more than 300 suspected and confirmed cases of the monekypox infection from over 20 countries outside tropical areas of west and central Africa, where it predominently exists. Looking at the risk factor, the United States is preparing to give monkeypox vaccines to close contacts of people infected with the virus.

Read | Is it possible for someone to be infected with both monkeypox and Covid-19 virus?

However, a top US health expert seems not too worried about the viral infection and says it is unlikely that monkeypox would cause a Covid-19-like pandemic in the world. Dr Faheem Younus says monkeypox cases are concerning but the risk of it becoming a pandemic is zero per cent, given that it is not novel unlike SARS-CoV-2.

Monkeypox cases are concerning but the risk of this becoming a COVID like pandemic is ZERO%

Why? This virus:

- is NOT novel…
- is typically not deadly
- is less contagious than COVID
- has been around for 5 decades
- is prevented by smallpox vaccine

Stay calm folks:)

— Faheem Younus, MD (@FaheemYounus) May 23, 2022

The World Health Organisation (WHO) too states that the monkeypox outbreak is unusual but is still containable. Meanwhile, Moderna Inc is testing potential vaccines against monkeypox in pre-clinical trials amid the spread of the disease in the United States, Canada and some countries of Europe. 

Dr Rosamund Lewis, an expert on monkeypox at the World Health Organisation (WHO), has said that he does not think that the monkeypox disease will take the form of a pandemic. But he expressed concern that scientists do not know much about monkeypox so far. He said that till now they do not know how exactly it infects others.

Read | DNA Explainer: Understanding two strains and four stages of monkeypox

More research required

Dr Rosemond Lewis says that it also needs to be known that the vaccination campaign for smallpox that started decades ago has been closed for the last few years. So, is this disease now spreading due to discontinuation of vaccination? 

Dr Rosemond said in a seminar organized on monkeypox, that we have to emphasize that the cases that are coming in most of the countries are usually gay, bisexual and men and people who have sex with men. Scientists should pay attention to what is causing this. He said that this needs special attention because before this such cases were not seen in which gay or bisexual got this disease.

However, Dr Rosemond also warned that it is not that this disease occurs only in gay or bisexual. Anyone can get this disease, no matter what kind of sexual orientation the person has. Another expert said that it could be a mere coincidence that the disease was first seen in gay and bisexual.

But soon it started infecting other people as well. If it is not controlled then it can happen in any human being. According to WHO, there was not a single case of this disease in 23 countries, but now there are more than 250 cases in these countries.

(With Agency Inputs)