Reuters
The Annenberg Public Policy Centre of the University of Pennsylvania issued a warning today that, as the mpox virus (formerly known as the monkeypox virus) is making a significant comeback, both in the USA where it is making a resurgence, and in its homeland of Africa where a new, more deadly strain has recently evolved and spread to several states.
And, if you believe creationism's divine malevolence is responsible for designing these nasty little parasites, you will have to appreciate how it has been particularly sneaky with the virus, which is closely related to the variola virus that caused smallpox until smallpox was eradicated by a successful WHO vaccination campaign. This vaccination gave some incidental protection against the mpox virus but because smallpox has been eliminated, the vaccines are no longer given. This has allowed mpox to infect people, particularly those who were never vaccinated against smallpox and have never been exposed to the smallpox virus.
What are the signs, symptoms and risks to public health of the mpox virus (monkeypox virus) and how is it related to the family of viruses that includes smallpox? Signs and Symptoms of Mpox (Monkeypox Virus)Incidentally, before creationists start to squawk their traditional parrot squawks about genetic entropy and devolution, whatever evolutionary changes have occurred in the virus are undoubtedly beneficial to the virus so can't logically be described as devolutionary - they are a classic example of evolution, regardless of how idiosyncratic a definition of evolution Michael J. Behe uses.
Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) is a viral zoonotic disease, meaning it can be transmitted from animals to humans. The signs and symptoms of mpox can be similar to, but less severe than, those of smallpox. Here's what you need to know:
Early Signs and Symptoms
- Fever: Often one of the first symptoms, occurring within 5-21 days after exposure.
- Headache: A severe headache may accompany the fever.
- Muscle Aches: Myalgia, or muscle pain, is common.
- Backache: Lower back pain can occur alongside other early symptoms.
- Swollen Lymph Nodes: Lymphadenopathy, or swollen lymph nodes, is a key distinguishing feature between mpox and smallpox.
- Chills and Exhaustion: General malaise, fatigue, and chills are also typical.
Progression of Symptoms
- Rash: After the fever, a rash typically develops within 1-3 days. The rash often starts on the face before spreading to other parts of the body, including the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
- Lesions: The rash evolves into raised bumps, which then turn into fluid-filled pustules. These pustules eventually scab over and fall off.
- Duration: The illness usually lasts 2 to 4 weeks, and the patient is considered contagious until the scabs fall off.
Risks to Public Health
Mpox poses several risks to public health, particularly due to its potential for transmission and the impact on certain populations.
Transmission Risks
- Human-to-Human Transmission: This occurs through close contact with infected respiratory secretions, skin lesions, or contaminated materials like bedding. Prolonged face-to-face contact, skin-to-skin contact, and sexual contact can increase the risk of transmission.
- Animal-to-Human Transmission: People can contract the virus through contact with infected animals, such as rodents or primates, or through eating undercooked meat from infected animals.
- Healthcare Settings: Healthcare workers and caregivers are at higher risk if they do not use appropriate protective measures.
Vulnerable Populations
- Immunocompromised Individuals: Those with weakened immune systems may experience more severe symptoms and complications.
- Children and Pregnant Women: Higher risk of severe disease has been observed in children and pregnant women.
Potential Complications
- Secondary Infections: Bacterial infections can develop in skin lesions.
- Pneumonia, Encephalitis, and Sepsis: These are serious complications that can arise in severe cases.
- Mortality Rate: While mpox is generally less deadly than smallpox, certain strains can have a higher mortality rate, particularly in vulnerable populations.
Relationship to Smallpox
Mpox and smallpox belong to the same family of viruses, Poxviridae and specifically to the genus Orthopoxvirus Here’s how they are related:
Virus Family and Genus
- Orthopoxvirus Genus: Both mpox and smallpox (caused by the variola virus) are part of this genus, which also includes cowpox and vaccinia viruses.
Similarities
- Symptoms: Both viruses cause similar clinical symptoms, such as fever, rash, and pustules, though mpox is generally less severe.
- Transmission: Both can be transmitted through close contact, though smallpox was historically more contagious and had a higher mortality rate.
Differences
- Severity: Smallpox had a much higher case fatality rate (up to 30%) compared to mpox.
- Eradication: Smallpox was eradicated globally in 1980 through an extensive vaccination campaign, while mpox still occurs sporadically, primarily in parts of Central and West Africa.
Vaccination and Cross-Protection
- Smallpox Vaccine: The smallpox vaccine (based on the vaccinia virus) provides some cross-protection against mpox. This is why smallpox vaccination is sometimes used in outbreak control for mpox.
- No Routine Vaccination: Since smallpox has been eradicated, routine vaccination against it has ceased, leading to lower immunity in the global population against related viruses like mpox.
Public Health Implications
While mpox is less deadly and less transmissible than smallpox, its ability to cause outbreaks, particularly in areas with low immunity or poor healthcare infrastructure, remains a public health concern. Public health strategies include monitoring, vaccination campaigns during outbreaks, and educating the public about prevention and early detection.
So, as evolutionary changes and not 'devolutionary changes' they can't be blamed on 'Sin' and 'The Fall'. Which just leaves intelligent [sic] design creationists with the choice of malevolent design or evolution.
In their press release, the Annenberg Public Policy Center not only warn of this resurgence and new strain of the mpox virus but point out that American public perception of the health risks has fallen very significantly since the first outbreak outside Africa in 2022:
The Threat of Mpox Has Returned but Public Knowledge About It Has DeclinedWhich creationist is going to find the courage to explain whether this emerging threat to public health is a case of mindless evolution in which no god magic was involved, or whether it's the work of their favourite pestilential sadist?
It has been two years since the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over an outbreak of mpox, a disease endemic to Africa that had spread to scores of countries. Now, in the summer of 2024, a deadlier version of the infectious disease has spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to other African nations, the strain that originally hit the United States has shown signs of a resurgence, and this week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new alert on mpox to health care providers.
But while the American public quickly learned about the disease during the summer of 2022, as the number of cases declined and media attention waned, much of that knowledge appears to have been lost, according to new survey data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
In a nationally representative survey of about 1,500 U.S. empaneled adults conducted in July 2024, the policy center finds that knowledge about mpox – which increased from July to August 2022 – has declined, along with fear of the disease (which was previously called monkeypox). This wave of the Annenberg Science and Public Health (ASAPH) knowledge survey finds that:
- Only 1 in 20 Americans (5%) are worried about contracting mpox in the next three months, down from 21% in August 2022. In addition, fewer than 1 in 10 (9%) are worried that they or their families will contract mpox.
- Fewer than 1 in 5 people (17%) know that mpox is less contagious than Covid-19, down from 41% in August 2022. Nearly two-thirds (63%) are not sure.
- Just a third of people (34%) know that men who have sex with men are at a higher risk of infection with mpox, down from nearly two-thirds (63%) in August 2022.
- Less than half (45%) know that a vaccine for mpox exists, down from 61% in August 2022.
- Fewer people (58%) know that it’s false to say that getting a Covid-19 vaccine increases your chances of getting mpox, down from 71%.
The speed with which the public learned needed information about mpox in the summer of 2022 was a tribute to effective communication by the public health community. That same expertise should now be deployed to ensure that those at risk remember mpox’s symptoms, modes of transmission, and the protective power of vaccination.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) and director of the survey.
Mpox outbreaks in 2024 and 2022
Discovered in 1958, mpox is a rare disease caused by an orthopox virus, and is a less deadly member of the family of viruses that cause smallpox, according to the CDC. Mpox may cause fever, chills, headaches, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and painful rashes, particularly on the hands, feet, face, chest, mouth, or near the genitals. According to the CDC, the disease can spread through contact with infected wild animals, close (including sexual) contact with an infected individual, including contact with scabs or body fluids, or contact with contaminated materials such as towels or bedding.
The current outbreak involves an mpox strain known as clade I, which is especially virulent and dangerous to infants and children under the age of 5, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), whose director general announced this week that he was convening a panel of experts to advise him whether the outbreak should be declared a global health emergency. (The WHO called an end to the 2022 mpox global health emergency in May 2023.) The WHO says there have been over 14,000 cases this year, with at least 511 deaths, according to STAT News. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 62% of the deaths involved children under age 5. The current subtype appears to be spread through routine close contact between individuals, though in November 2023 the WHO confirmed that this strain was also being sexually transmitted.
This deadlier strain of monkeypox has not been reported outside central and east Africa, the CDC said.
A different strain of mpox in the 2022 outbreak, known as the clade II subtype, which spread across the United States, was less deadly and largely transmitted through sexual contact, and men who have sex with men were at higher risk of the disease. That earlier strain never disappeared entirely, though new cases are at a much lower level, according to the CDC. The majority of cases are in people who are not vaccinated against mpox or have received only one of the two recommended doses, the CDC reported.
Vaccination against mpox
While knowledge concerning mpox has declined significantly, there has been a less pronounced drop in people’s intentions to get vaccinated against the disease. The CDC has urged individuals to be vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine Jynneos four weeks apart – both for people who have been exposed to mpox virus to help prevent its spread and for people with risk factors for mpox, including men who have sex with men.
An earlier APPC survey, in October 2022, found that 76% of respondents said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to get an mpox vaccine if they were exposed to mpox. The current survey, in July 2024, found a slight decline – 70% of respondents reported that they were either very/somewhat likely to get the vaccine (68%) or were already vaccinated against mpox (2%). However, 3 in 10 (30%) said they were “not too likely” or “not at all likely” to get vaccinated against mpox if exposed to the virus. In addition, 70% reported in July 2024 that they thought the benefits of vaccination against mpox outweighed the risks.
APPC’s ASAPH survey
The survey data come from the 20th wave of a nationally representative panel of 1,496 U.S. adults, first empaneled in April 2021, conducted for the Annenberg Public Policy Center by SSRS, an independent market research company. This wave of the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge (ASAPH) survey was fielded July 11-18, 2024, and has a margin of sampling error (MOE) of ± 3.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number and may not add to 100%. Combined subcategories may not add to totals in the topline and text due to rounding. Download the topline and methodology statement. The policy center has been tracking the American public’s knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors regarding vaccination, Covid-19, mpox, flu, maternal health, climate change, and other consequential health issues through this Annenberg Science and Public Health (ASAPH) knowledge survey panel for over three years. In addition to Jamieson, the APPC team includes senior data analyst Laura Gibson; research analyst Shawn Patterson Jr.; Patrick E. Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, and Ken Winneg, managing director of survey research.
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