Dr. William Schaffner, the professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt Medical Center, joined Cheddar News to break down concerns about monkeypox, the World Health Organization taking a second look at the outbreak, and how it differs from that of COVID. "This is not an infection that kills," he said. "Over time, it takes about two to three to four weeks. These lesions, these blisters that occur, these monkey pox lesions, will all go away, and they heal themselves. And so it doesn't have the same sort of urgency."

Cheddar's News Wrap

What to Know About the Monkeypox Outbreak

Welcome back to Chester's news wrap the world Health Organization is holding a second emergency meeting about the monkey pox outbreak today. They're meeting to decide if monkeypox should be classified as a global health emergency. And joining me now to discuss is dr William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Doctor Good to see you the voted against this nearly a month ago. What has led them to take a second look at this decision and can you give us just a snapshot of how quickly cases are rising? Well cases certainly arising Asia here in the United States, we've had over 2000 cases reported and about 100 or more new ones are being reported daily. And we think that's a substantial undercount because testing is only now becoming more widely available and this is happening also in europe and other Western countries. So it's a notable new phenomenon in the West But a big difference from other kinds of outbreaks that the considers is that there are no fatalities. This is not an infection that kills over time. It takes about 2-3 to 4 weeks. These lesions, these blisters that occur, these monkey pox lesions will all go away and they heal themselves and so it doesn't have the same sort of urgency. But because there's so much international interest, the W. H. O. Is bringing its committee together once again to see whether this should be designated a public health emergency of international concern. Yeah, it sounds very similar to the progress that we've seen with coronavirus with vaccinations and that while it's not maybe as deadly for some individuals, it can also have an impact economically. But what is the likelihood of monkeypox actually being declared a global health emergency at this point? Yeah. Well, my crystal ball suggests that once again the W the W. H. O. Will give it a pass. They won't do that. Uh else they would have to look at any number of other diseases that are out there that are spreading widely in many parts of the world. Tuberculosis for example, that causes many more deaths but has not been declared a public health emergency. So they have a kind of a balancing act to perform here. And I think the designation public health Emergency of international concern was never intended for this kind of infection for covid when it first started. For sure because it caused many many deaths. Monkeypox, not so much. I don't think really interesting to get that take as well. How it could almost open up a whole new can of worms with other disease. But scientists are noting some of the differences between the outbreaks in Africa and other Western countries. Can you walk us through some of these differences? Well, there are differences and when the virus came to the west, it threw us some curves. Or as I like to say, the virus didn't read the textbook in central and Western africa. When people get monkey pox, the pattern of the pox on the body is very distinctive. Arms, palms, legs, feet, and the head and neck. But and they usually have many, many lesions. However, when it's come to the West being transmitted through sexual intimacies, it behaves differently. You can have very few lesions and they can be on the trunk, around your genitals and around your backside for example, they may not be as easy to see. They're not as obvious. People seem not to get as sick and some of that may well be because here in the West were generally better nourished than they are in West africa. Yeah, this sounds really concerning because it is different here in the US versus other countries. I wanted to ask you though, vaccines are very limited right now. We've seen this even here in new york city. Tell us about the vaccine, the eligibility and when we can see people have broader access to it. Well, the vaccine that we're using now is made by one manufacturer was really manufactured to protect against smallpox. Yes, against monkey pox also, but against smallpox. And it was targeted at people who were working with this virus in laboratories or similar viruses. So it had a relatively speaking small output and all of a sudden the demand has gone up very much. And so the company is working day and night to produce more vaccine. We're not going to get huge amounts of vaccine here in the United States. So at the moment, the vaccine is targeted to geographic areas where there is a lot of transmission. You mentioned new york, for example, and it is targeted at people who are exposed already, where there's a known exposure and then it can prevent the development of the disease. It also may be given to people who are immune compromised, who might get more severe disease. Okay, Dr William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Always good to have your insight. Thanks for joining us.