The Monkeypox virus has been reported in the U.S. and Europe, seemingly spreading outside of its typical range of central and western Africa — but the puzzling thing is that the cases have not been linked to travel to and from the region. Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist, joined Cheddar News to break down the level of concern people should have about the viral disease. "There's zero chance that this can become a pandemic. This is a very different virus, with very different characteristics, with very different tools," he said. "I think that there's this danger of looking at every infectious disease outbreak through the lens of COVID-19. You can't do that."

Closing Bell

Infectious Disease Specialist Says 'Zero Chance' Monkeypox Becomes a Pandemic

Welcome back to Cheddar News is closing bell everyone. Health officials around the world are investigating outbreaks to the monkey pox virus. The viral diseases related to smallpox but milder and less infectious and has caused clusters of illness in the US, europe Australia, asia South America and Canada. Well joining me now is Dr Amish Adalja, infectious disease specialist and senior scholar johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Dr Adalja. What more can you tell us about this virus? Monkey Pox is a virus that's been known to science since the 1950s and has really been confined to parts of Africa but we have seen importations to the United States before to other countries. But what's unusual about this virus, which is related to smallpox is that it seems to be now spreading person to person without any kind of link to travel to Africa or animals. It's something that causes a fever and a rash and we do have tools to deal with it. The big task is understanding the epidemiology of these new cases right now, medication doctor as to what has led to the recent a number of cases that we've seen. So as I said before, what's happening, that's different is that this is spreading from person to person. And some of the early signals are that this is happening in gay and bisexual men, meaning that this virus which spreads really efficiently through close contact, may be taking advantage of those social networks and spreading amongst them. That's why it's really important that clinicians beyond alert for this if they see a fever and a rash or even genital lesions and somebody And get the Health Department notified? Because what we know is that we can contain this by using the smallpox vaccine and vaccinating contacts of cases. That's how we stopped monkeypox outbreaks in the past. We had about four dozen cases in the us in 2003 related to importation of animals. This is a little bit different. But there's still the same principles apply. So for anyone who has received the small pox vaccine, doctor, do you feel confident that they are protected against the spread of this Over time? The smallpox vaccine ways? But in general, we've had most of the population of the world, not vaccinated since the 1970s, after smallpox was eradicated. But we don't actually vaccinate everybody. When we're talking about monkey box. What we do is something called ring vaccination where we find a case and then the contacts around that case, you vaccinate all those individuals forming sort of a ring around that case. So it's not that this is a universal vaccine recommendation. The vaccine will be deployed to those places where there are outbreaks to the contacts. It's not something for the general public to get or to worry about right now. This is a containable infectious disease. We just have to get a handle on how it's spreading in those networks? The question that I would have is what are the chances that this could become a pandemic like COVID-19. But it sounds like at least for now, doctor you're optimistic that it can be contained is that the case? Yes, there's zero chance that this can become a pandemic. This is a very different virus with very different characteristics with very different tools. And I think that there's this danger of looking at every infectious disease outbreak through the lens of COVID-19, you can't do that. These are different types of viruses. This is a containable virus that does not have pandemic potential. It's just about minimizing the spread right now and getting the vaccine to those people who are at risk. How transmissible is monkey pox. Monkeypox is transmissible uh, to the extent that people have close contact with each other respiratory droplets, skin to skin contact. It's not anything like a respiratory virus. Nothing like covid 19. Back in 2021 we had cases in the United States, one of which you flew on multiple flights. There was no secondary transmission back in 2003. No secondary transmission from people that didn't handle those, those animals that were infected. So this is not that contagious When you compare it to other respiratory viruses like Covid or influenza. And it seems to be really thriving on close personal contact right now, I think sometimes when people get a rash it could be so many different things. I'm not the health expert here, doctor. But is there anything I'm specifically characteristic of a rash associated with monkeypox, the viewers should be aware of. Sure. So the first thing is that the rash is accompanied by fever and swollen lymph nodes. So the glands in your neck, those maybe swollen as well. And all the lesions kind of they start out kind of as as flat spots but they all look the same and then they kind of progress through stages and become little patrols and eventually pustules. But they're all the same stage. So it's a rash that really looks homogeneous are the same all over your body and associated with fever and swelling of the lymph nodes. That's how you can tell that. This is monkey pox versus some other benign rash disease. Okay, best practices for anyone watching worried about Covid 19 to begin with. And now potentially this. What would you advise first of all? Don't panic. This is not a general threat to the public. This is something that is spreading with insertion. So certain social groups, we expect to see more cases and more cases that might not necessarily be tied to those social groups. If you have a fever. If you have a rash, this is something that should get evaluated by your doctor. But not everybody is at risk for monkeypox. The way that everybody is at risk for covid, 19. So don't fall into the trap of thinking every infectious disease can spread in the manner of Covid 19 but be alert to fever and rash and get medical attention if you need it. All right. Dr Amish Adalja, infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at jOHns Hopkins Center for Health Security Doctor. Thank you.