Monkeypox or COVID: Which is a bigger threat? Experts explain
Premium- Monkeypox is dramatically less contagious than COVID-19, expert said
Even as the world is struggling to deal with COVID, the monkeypox outbreak comes as a double whammy. In its latest update, World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed that so far, 92 monkeypox cases have been detected across the globe. And as it has ramped up surveillance, the UN health agency suspects 28 more cases in 12 countries. However, with much panic brewing around the disease, experts assured that it is less severe than covid-19. “The virus is dramatically less contagious than COVID-19," experts also said.
Why Monkeypox is less dangerous than COVID-19?
Kurt Krause, Otago University biochemistry professor, in an interview with Newshub, said, Monkeypox, a relative of smallpox and chickenpox, commonly occurs in small outbreaks. And, it is less dangerous than Covid-19 although it has a higher fatality rate.
"Monkeypox can be serious but generally speaking, the outbreaks that occur involve a few hundred people and they fizzle out because the virus isn't transmitted that readily from one person to another," Krause said, adding, that it has a fatality rate of around 1 percent.
"It looks like the cases are the west African strain, so that would be in the lower group, but it's so much different from coronavirus in that it's so much less transmissable and once you get to the pox stage, it's quite apparent," Krause said and also confirmed, "The COVID-19 fatality rate is about a third to half of a percent depending on which strain. Omicron is a little bit less than that, Delta was about that rate."
Krause said the big difference between the two viruses is that monkeypox is "dramatically less contagious" than COVID-19.
How does Monkeypox spread, and how it is different from COVID virus?
If you have contact with somebody who's got pox lesions or contact with the material they have contaminated or respiratory secretions, that is how you get it. Meanwhile, COVID is transmitted by aerosol, the expert pointed out.
In case, someone catches monkeypox, they would need to isolate, let it scab over and dry out. The recovery period from the infection is 2-3 weeks. Monkeypox is a virus that can cause symptoms including fever, aches and presents with a distinctive bumpy rash.