- [Narrator] Monkeypox, a viral disease
with major outbreaks spreading in the US and Europe,
is posing a lot of questions.
So Wired spoke with epidemiologists, Dr. Danielle Ompad
to learn more about the look, spread
and treatment of monkeypox.
The biggest question people are asking is
what does monkeypox look like?
- The first lesions that you will probably see
are flat and red, and they can be on the face
and spread to the arms and the legs, your hands and feet.
Now I will say during this outbreak
we have seen that people have fewer lesions
than they have in previous outbreaks.
- [Narrator] The rash which usually
accompanies flu-like symptoms
begins first as flat and red.
Then it turns into raised in red.
Then pimple like bumps and finally scabs.
Sometimes the flu-like symptoms appear
before or after the rash, but for some
the rash is their only symptom.
- It can look different, depending on your pigment
but essentially the features like flat bumps to raise bumps
to pustules, to the scabs that is going to be consistent.
And it's the color may change.
- [Narrator] If you have monkeypox
how long are you contagious?
- You are contagious for as long
as you have the rash until the scabs fall off
and new skin forms over where the scabs are.
That could be two weeks or longer
depending on how long it takes you to heal.
- [Narrator] So what type of virus are we dealing with?
- Monkeypox is an Ortohopoxvirus that's related
to smallpox and vaccinia virus.
Vaccinia virus is actually the virus that is used
in the vaccines for smallpox and monkeypox.
It definitely causes less severe disease than smallpox.
- [Narrator] How does this virus spread?
- Monkeypox spreads in different ways.
It can be spread person to person
through direct contact with infectious rash, scabs
or body fluids, intimate physical contacts, such as kissing
or cuddling or sex, whether or not there is penetration.
And it can also be transmitted
by touching items like clothing or linens
that previously touch the infectious rash or body fluids.
And then pregnant people can also spread the virus
to their fetus through the placenta.
- [Narrator] How can we reduce our risk
of getting monkeypox?
- In terms of protecting yourself
you might want to think strategically about
being in close contact with people
with skin to skin contact, you don't want to kiss
cuddle or have sex with somebody who has monkeypox
and you wanna avoid contact with objects and materials
that a person with monkeypox has used.
You don't wanna share eating utensils or cups
and you should wash your hands.
I mean, we should be doing that anyways
but you definitely wanna make sure
that you're washing your hands
especially before eating or touching your face.
If you, as an individual, see that you have a rash
you're not sure what the rash is
but it might look like bug bites.
It might look like chicken pox.
Make sure that you're not in close contact with people
and try to prevent spread in case it is monkeypox.
If it starts to be very painful, if it starts to spread
you might wanna go to your doctor
and be assessed to see if you have monkeypox.
- [Narrator] How do you test for monkeypox?
- In order to test for monkeypox,
they require a swab from a lesion.
As soon as you have lesions
you can start testing for monkeypox.
So it'll be about a week or two before you could test.
- [Narrator] So who's most likely to get monkeypox?
- Anybody can be infected with monkeypox.
In the current outbreak, the majority of people have been
male and they have been gay bisexual or other men
who have sex with men.
However, anybody can be infected.
And I need to make that clear because I want people to
realize that if they're around people who have
the monkeypox rash, they're at risk for infection.
People who are immune compromised are at risk
for more severe monkeypox infections, and may also be
at risk for complications and even death.
- [Narrator] As the latest public health
emergency declaration from the World Health Organization.
Monkeypox has people worried, but unlike the beginning
of COVID-19, there are existing treatments in vaccines.
- For most people the treatment options
are just to treat the symptoms.
There is a small supply of a drug called TPOXX
which is Tecovirimat, it's an FDA approved drug
for the treatment of human smallpox disease.
It is not approved for monkeypox
but TPOXX has been administered to some people
who have more severe cases of monkeypox.
And so that has been used, but not widely.
There are vaccines available.
Jynneos is a live virus vaccine.
It's administered with two shots
in the arm about four weeks apart.
And it takes about two weeks after the second dose
for you to have maximal immune response
there will be quite a bit of cross reactivity
for smallpox and monkeypox because
the viruses are relatively similar.
So the effectiveness for smallpox
was estimated to be relatively high.
And I would anticipate the vaccines will
be highly effective for monkeypox as well.