MONKEYPOX

MONKEYPOX

Reports on the spreading monkeypox virus reveal that at present (01/06/2022) the majority of cases involve men who have sex with men. It seems undetermined whether it is spread by sexual transmission beyond the physical contact that sex involves. Monkeypox is spread by physical contact: of flesh on flesh of an infected person, by contact with the clothes and/or bedding of someone infected. It can also be spread through respiratory droplets. Symptoms last between two and four weeks. It is rarely deadly.

Monkeypox is related to smallpox, though it is milder, and smallpox vaccine can help prevent infection. Unfortunately Canada stopped vaccinating children for smallpox in the early 1970s, so younger individuals do not have that protection. Some jurisdictions have begun again to give smallpox vaccines, that are about 85% effective at preventing monkeypox. There is, however, a vaccine specifically for monkeypox that in Canada goes by the trade name Imvamune.