Tag Archives: Smallpox

MIT Professor Retsef Levi Vaccine Claims Examined!

Take a look at the viral video by MIT professor Retsef Levi, who called for the immediate suspension of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, and find out what the facts really are!

MIT Professor Retsef Levi Calls For Suspension Of mRNA Vaccines!

A video by MIT professor Retsef Levi has gone viral, after he claimed that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were causing serious harm to young people, and called for their immediate suspension!

Here is my rough transcript of what Retsef Levi said in his viral video. It’s VERY long, so feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!

Hi, my name if Retsef Levi, and since 2006, I’m a faculty member at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I have more than 30 years experience as a practitioner and an academic in using data analytics to assess and manage risk, particularly in the context of health systems, health policies, as well as the management of safety and quality of manufacturing of biologic drugs.

I’m filming this video to share my strong conviction that that at this point in time, all COVID mRNA vaccination programs should stop immediately. They should stop because they completely failed to fulfill any of their advertised promises regarding efficacy. And more importantly, they should stop because of the mounting and indisputable evidence that they cause unprecedented levels of harm, including the death of young people and children.

I personally became concerned with the vaccine safety around the middle of 2021 when it became known that the mRNA vaccines cause myocarditis, and inflammation of the heart. Since myocarditis is known to be hard to diagnose because it often has the vague symptoms, or can even be subclinical with no symptoms, it is also known to a frequent cause of out-of-the-hospital sudden cardiac arrests, especially in young people.

I was very concerned that it would not be detected by the existing vaccine safety surveillance systems. Motivated by that, we decided to analyze the Israel National EMS data to see if there are any signals of increased out of hospital adverse events,.

The analysis of the EMS calls and the diagnosis data from 2019 throughout the first half of 2021 reveals some very concerning signals. We detected an increase of 25% in the calls with cardiac arrest diagnosis amongst ages 16-39 in the first half of 2021. Exactly when the vaccination campaign in Israel was launched.

A smaller increase was also detected in the older ages. Moreover, we also detected a statistically significant temporal correlation between the number of the Pfizer vaccine doses administered to this population and the number of EMS calls with cardiac arrest diagnosis.

Interestingly, we did not find any statistically significant correlation with the number of COVID-19 infections during this period of time.

While this is not a proof of causal relationship, it left us very concerned especially given the known suspect of clinical mechanism. And we called for an immediate thorough investigation by the Israeli Ministry of Health, to investigate what are the underlying causal mechanisms of these observed increase in cardiac arrest calls. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, such thorough investigation was never conducted.

By now, I believe that the the cumulative evidence is conclusive and confirms our concern that the mRNA vaccines indeed cause sudden cardiac arrest as a sequel of vaccine-induced myocarditis. And this is potentially only one mechanism by which they cause harm.

Data from the UK, Scotland, and Australia replicate the data from Israel. Additional data from Israel indicates that in 2021, the EMS in Israel conducted more than 3,000 more resuscitations compared to 2019, which amounts for an increase of 27%. Two prospective studies from Thailand and Switzerland in which vaccinees were tested before and after they received a vaccine, indicate that the rates of heart damage are likely to be significantly higher than the rates detected by clinical diagnosis. This is exactly the same finding that the US military found in 2015, when it conducted a similar study on the smallpox vaccine.

Another study from the Harvard Medical School detected in the blood of children with vaccine-induced myocarditis, an entire spike, which is another indication of the underlying mechanism of harm, but in fact has even broader implications about the safety of the vaccine given the repeated evidence that we have that the mRNA and the lipids are actually penetrating the blood system.

And finally, autopsies of people that died closely after they received the vaccine indicate that in a large number of cases, there is strong evidence that the death was caused by vaccine-induced myocarditis. So presented with all of this evidence, I think there is no other ethical or scientific choice but to pull out of the market, these medical products and stop all the mRNA vaccination programs. This is clearly the most failing medical product in the history of medical products, both in terms of efficacy and safety.

And we need to investigate and think hard how did we end up in a situation that is also the most profitable medical product in the history of medical products. Thank you for your attention.

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MIT Professor Retsef Levi Vaccine Claims Examined!

You do not have to be an MIT professor like Retsef Levi to go through his claims, and discover these facts for yourself. It’s really not difficult at all. Let me show you…

Fact #1 : Retsef Levi Is Professor of Management + Operations Management

Normally, I do not like to comment on anyone’s credentials, as the merits of their facts and arguments should stand on their own. However, Retsef Levi made a point of promoting his credentials, so I feel it is necessary to have a clearer picture of his credentials.

Retsef Levi is a professor of Management, as well as Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, which is a separate business school under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

MIT Sloan focuses on MBA, Finance, Business Analytics, Management, etc. and is separate from the MIT School of Science, where the faculty teaches and researches the hard sciences from physics and biology to computational biology and statistics.

Management and Operations Management deal with business administration practices to create the highest level of efficiency within a business organisation, which are critical in managing large corporations like Pfizer and Moderna, but would have virtually nothing to do with the actual research and development (R&D) of their products.

Fact #2 : MIT Study Did Not Prove Pfizer Vaccine Raised Heart Problems!

The first study that Retsef Levi mentioned was the one he co-authored in April 2022, which I fact checked in May 2022. In my fact check article, I pointed out these problems:

No clinical research was conducted on any patient. The study only “analysed” data collected by a third party – the Israel National Emergency Medical Services.
The study relied on call data based on initial diagnosis by responding paramedics, not the final / actual diagnosis by doctors after the patients undergo all necessary clinical and laboratory investigations at the hospital.
The data did not include about 50% of cardiac arrest and acute coronary syndrome cases in Israel for that period of time.
The data was not tied to COVID-19 infection, or COVID-19 vaccination, or even pre-existing heart problems.
The authors themselves pointed out that they did not establish any causal relationship between COVID-19 vaccines and heart problems.
The authors also pointed out that the increase in cardiac arrests and acute coronary syndrome may be caused by “other underlying causal mechanisms”.

My fact check article goes much further, but suffice to say – that MIT study did not prove that the Pfizer vaccine increased the risk of heart problems like cardiac arrests in young adults.

Fact #3 : Adverse Events of Special Interest Are Not Vaccine Side Effects!

As supporting evidence, Professor Retsef Levi shared a September 2022 article called “Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults“.

That article claimed that “secondary analysis of serious adverse events reported” in the Phase 3 trial of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines showed that they were associated with significantly higher risk of serious adverse events of special interest (AESI):

Pfizer : 36% higher risk of AESI
Moderna : 6% higher risk of AESI
Pfizer + Moderna combined : 16% higher risk of AESI

What I don’t understand about the article is why the authors performed their “analysis” of adverse events of special interest (AESI), when they are not side effects of the vaccines!

The AESI list is not specific to the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
The AESI list includes “exposure to SARS-CoV-2”, and other viruses like Herpes, MERS, Varicella, as well as other “communicable disease”.
The AESI list includes manufacturing and lab test issues like “Manufacturing laboratory analytical testing issue, Manufacturing materials issue, Manufacturing production issue“.
The AESI list includes product supply issues like “Product availability issue, Product distribution issue, Product supply issue“.

That’s not all, but I think you catch the drift – the Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI) list is not a list of vaccine side effects!

Fact #4 : Smallpox Vaccine Does Not Use mRNA Technology

Oddly enough, Retsef Levi referred to a 2015 US Military finding that the smallpox vaccine caused heart problems.

In this 2019 case study by the US military, the rate of myopericarditis was shown to increase by 50X after they switched from the older Dryvax smallpox vaccine, to the new ACAM2000 vaccine.

However, that new ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine does not use mRNA technology, but a single plaque-purified vaccinia virus derivative of Dryvax (NYCBH strain).

In other words – the smallpox vaccine uses a live but less dangerous virus called vaccinia, to help your body develop immunity against the smallpox virus.

Viral infections, even if they are mild, can lead to heart inflammation, so it would not be surprising if the smallpox vaccine (which uses an actual virus) can trigger heart inflammation in a small number of people.

Fact #5 : Implication Of Free Spike Protein In Vaccine Myocarditis Still Unknown

On 4 January 2023, a study published in the journal Circulation showed that 16 patients who developed myocarditis after mRNA vaccination had “markedly elevated levels of full-length spike protein” that were “unbound by antibodies”.

In contrast, no free spike proteins were detected in 45 control subjects who did not develop myocarditis after mRNA vaccination.

This is a very interesting finding, which suggests that free spike proteins (unbound by antibodies) may possibly be the cause of myocarditis in young adults who receive the mRNA vaccine. However, the implication isn’t clear because it is not known why there are free spike proteins in the first place.

The mRNA vaccines teach some of our cells to create spike proteins. Because they are expressed on the cell surface, those spike proteins do not float freely in the blood, but rather, trigger the immune system to develop antibodies that bind to them.

As the study noted, people who do not develop myocarditis after receive the mRNA vaccines do not show any free spike protein – precisely what was meant to happen.

So the implication of that finding of free spike protein is still unknown, and warrants additional research. It is, however, not evidence that the mRNA vaccines cause heart problems.

Fact #6 : Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis Can Be Confirmed

It is important to point out that vaccine-induced myocarditis can be clinically differentiated from classical myocarditis, as well as proven through histopathology.

Instead of relying on “statistical analysis” of partial data from emergency call centres, we should rely instead on proper medical diagnoses based on clinical and laboratory investigations.

That is how we can avoid prematurely claiming that people died from the COVID-19 vaccines, only for their autopsies to prove otherwise, like these cases:

Will these anti-vaccination activists apologise for lying to you? Nope! They will just move on to the next death / tragedy…

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Don’t forget to protect yourself, and your family, by vaccinating against COVID-19!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Over 560 Monkeypox Cases Confirmed In 25 Countries!

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Over 560 monkeypox cases have now been confirmed in at least 25 countries outside of Africa!

Find out if the monkeypox outbreak could become a new pandemic we have to worry about!

Over 560 Monkeypox Cases Confirmed In 25 Countries!

People are now worried about the rapid spread of monkeypox globally. although the WHO has said that it is unlikely to become a pandemic like COVID-19.

Discovered in 1958, the first human infection was only reported in 1970, and there were only like 400 cases from 1970 to 1986.

Monkeypox became more common over time, with 2000 cases per year reported between 2011 and 2014, and several outbreaks in the US (2003 and 2021), UK (2018 and 2021), and Singapore (2019)..

However, nothing has come close to the 2022 monkeypox outbreak which has now affected at least 25 countries outside of Africa, with over 560 cases!

Country	Confirmed Cases	Suspected Cases	Total
United Kingdom	179	–	179
Spain	120	–	120
Portugal	96	–	96
Canada	26	37	63
Germany	33	–	33
Netherlands	26	–	26
France	17	–	17
United States	15	–	15
Italy	14	–	14
Belgium	9	–	9
Czech Republic	5	–	5
Switzerland	4	–	4
UAE	4	–	4
Sweden	3	–	3
Ireland	2	1	3
Argentina	2	–	2
Australia	2	–	2
Denmark	2	–	2
Israel	2	–	2
Slovenia	2	–	2
Austria	1	–	1
Finland	1	–	1
Malta	1	–	1
Mexico	1	–	1
Thailand	1	–	1
TOTAL	568	56	617

Monkeypox Cases May Increase, But Unlikely To Become Pandemic

On 30 May 2022, the World Health Organisation’s top monkeypox expert, Dr. Rosamund Lewis, gave a public briefing on the 2022 monkeypox outbreak.

Here is a summary of the key points Dr. Lewis shared in that public session :

She does not expect the monkeypox outbreak to turn into another pandemic like COVID-19.
There are still many unknowns about this outbreak, including how exactly it is spreading.
The suspension of mass smallpox immunisation decades ago may have resulted in increased transmission.
Vast majority of current cases seen in gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.
There is a higher proportion of people with fewer visible lesions that are more concentrated in the genital region, and sometimes nearly impossible to see. This is a danger because they are infectious even though their lesions are not visible.
There is a window of opportunity to shut down the outbreak so it does not become endemic in new areas.

Fortunately, the 2022 monkeypox outbreak appears to be of the less virulent West African strain, because there is no proven treatment.

The smallpox vaccine can offer up to 85% protection against monkeypox, and certain antiviral treatments can be attempted.

But otherwise – hospitals can only offer supportive treatment as the patient isolates for 2-4 weeks until the disease resolves.

Read more : What You Must Know About Monkeypox!

Monkeypox primarily spreads through close contact, but can spread through respiratory droplets. However, it is far less contagious and is not airborne like COVID-19.

Infected people are also not considered contagious until they start showing symptoms, which limits transmission. This is unlike COVID-19 which is often spread by people who are asymptomatic.

The best way to describe its ability to infect people would be to understand its R0 (Reproduction Number, pronounced as R naught) – how many people an infected person is expected to pass the disease along to.

The ancestral COVID-19 virus has an R0 of between 2 to 3, which increased to 8 with the Omicron variant. That’s really contagious – every infected person will (on average) transmit the virus to 8 other people.

On the other hand, past outbreaks of monkeypox had an R0 of less than one. That means even though there may be clusters of several cases, even outbreaks, the cases die out on their own.

Virus	R0
Measles	12 to 18
Omicron COVID-19	8
Smallpox	5 to 7
Ancestral COVID-19	2 to 3
H1N1 (2009)	1.5 to 2.5
Monkeypox	<1

Monkeypox fortunately does not spread very efficiently between humans. Generally, you need to have skin-to-skin contact with an infected person, or come into contact with his/her bodily fluids, to get infected.

The people most at risk would be close contacts of the infected person, like family members or healthcare workers taking care of them.

Transmission is really happening from close physical contact, skin-to-skin contact. It’s quite different from COVID in that sense.
– Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Infectious Disease Epidemiologist

It’s not as highly transmissible as something like smallpox, or measles, or certainly not Covid. It does not spread easily from person to person, the risk to the general public is low.
– Anne Rimoin, infectious disease epidemiologist at University of California.

That is why it is very unlikely to become a pandemic, although if it spreads to susceptible rodent populations, it could become endemic in those areas.

There is also the fact that the monkeypox is so closely related to the smallpox virus, the smallpox vaccine offers 85% protection against monkeypox infections.

In fact, one smallpox vaccine – JYNNEOS – was approved in the United States to serve as protection against monkeypox. Even though there is no public access to this vaccine, that can quickly change.

Several countries, including the United States, have strategic reserves of smallpox vaccines, which can be deployed in a monkeypox outbreak.

Countries have also started purchasing smallpox vaccines :

19 May 2022 : Spain’s Ministry of Health announced that it was in the process of purchasing thousands of doses of smallpox vaccines
24 May 2022 : CDC announced that the US is in the process of releasing some JYNNEOS smallpox vaccine doses for people who are “high risk”.
25 May 2022 : the German government announced that it was buying 40,000 doses of the JYNNEOS smallpox vaccine from Bavarian Nordic.
26 May 2022 : the UK Health Security Agency announced that it purchased 20,000 doses of the JYNNEOS smallpox vaccine from Bavarian Nordic.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Is Monkeypox Outbreak From Lab Strain Made In Ukraine?!

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Is the current monkeypox outbreak from a lab strain made in Ukraine?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Monkeypox Outbreak Is From Lab Strain Made In Ukraine!

People are sharing tweets by a Dr. Benjamin Braddock who claimed that the 2022 monkeypox outbreak is from a “third lab strain” made by the US in Ukraine!

ECDC source tells me that the preliminary analysis of monkeypox indicates that it is “a third lab strain with unknown characteristics” and that there is chatter about this being somehow related to Moscow’s charges against U.S. biological activities in Ukraine.

A Russian-Chinese joint task force has been tasked with establishing: where it originated, whether it is detectable in research conducted by the US in Ukraine, Georgia; whether there is a link to biological research conducted by the US on smallpox in Ukraine.

Main ECDC focus right now is on buying up as much of BN’s vaccine as possible. “They’re buying before they know whether it is even effective against this strain of monkeypox. I wouldn’t be surprised if they skipped testing it’s efficacy altogether.”

Truth : Monkeypox Outbreak Is Not From Lab Strain Made In Ukraine!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS being created and shared by people on social media, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : There Is No Third Lab Strain

The monkeypox virus has two clades, based on where they were commonly found – Congo Basin (Central Africa), and West Africa.

There is no such thing as a third lab strain or species or clade of the monkeypox virus.

Fact #2 : Strain Is A Subset Of Species

While it is impossible to prove what does not exist (Bertrand Russell’s teapot analogy), the claim that there is “a third lab strain” shows that the person creating the fake news does not know the difference between strain, species and clade.

In virology, a clade is technically a group of species that arose from a common ancestor, of which each species may give rise to different strains (sub-species).

Credit : Galaxy Advanced Microbial Diagnostics

If there is a new strain, it would not have been called “a third lab strain”. It would have just been called a new strain.

The introduction of the word “third” implies that the fake news creator believes that clade = strain, which is completely false.

Obviously, the fake news creator does not know much about virology, and is very unlikely to be working at the ECDC.

Fact #3 : 2022 Monkeypox Outbreak From West African Clade

Neither the European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control (ECDC) or other health authorities like the US CDC has announced the discovery of a new strain or clade of the monkeypox virus.

In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated on 21 May 2022, that all cases in the 2022 monkeypox outbreaks have been confirmed to involve the “West African clade“.

Fact #4 : No Evidence Current Virus Was Lab Made

Again, it is impossible to prove what does not exist – that the current monkeypox virus was not made in the lab. However, all the evidence points to a natural source of this virus.

Not only is the 2022 monkeypox virus is from an existing clade, genomic sequencing also indicated that this current virus was a close match of the monkeypox virus that were “exported” from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, Israel and Singapore in 2018 and 2019.

In other words – all of the evidence so far point us to a natural variant of an existing monkeypox virus that had already caused several outbreaks in the past.

Fact #5 : US Does Not Have Biological Labs In Ukraine

Braddock is repeating the oft-debunked false claim that the US has biological labs in Ukraine.

The truth is – they are Ukrainian biological laboratories, some of which receive financial and other support from the US, the European Union and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This is not unique to Ukraine – biological labs in many countries receive similar support from the US, EU and the WHO.

Fact #6 : US Sponsored Biological Threat Reduction In Ukraine

US sponsorship of biological labs in former Soviet Union countries like Ukraine go back decades, and is centred around the Biological Threat Reduction Program.

As the name implies, the program aims to train and equip the partner nation to detect and prevent the threat of infectious diseases, whether they are deliberate, accidental or natural.

The program aims to counter biological threats in a partner country, at the source, before the threat can reach the homeland of impact U.S. Armed Forces or allies.

The program also prevents proliferation by cooperating with partner countries to eliminate their biological weapons, associated materials, and production facilities.

Fact #7 : Biological Labs Are Essential To All Countries

Biological labs do not conduct biological warfare research, because that is banned in 183 countries under the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).

Instead, they are on the forefront of a country’s biosecurity defences, and are absolutely essential in developing tests and cures (including vaccines) for new and emerging diseases, like the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

In fact, both Russia and China have a number of biological labs, including the famous Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is located right at the epicentre of the first COVID-19 outbreak.

It is therefore misleading for anyone to demonise biological labs. After all, they are ESSENTIAL to every country’s national security, including their own.

Fact #8 : There Is No Russian-Chinese Task Force

Braddock claimed that a Russian-Chinese task force was formed to find out where the monkeypox outbreaks originated, or whether it is “detectable in research conducted by the US in Ukraine / Georgia”.

Again, it is impossible to prove what does not exist, but we know that this is a false claim because :

Braddock offered no evidence for the formation of such a Russian-Chinese task force.
The 2022 monkeypox outbreak did not affect either Russia or China, so they have no access to any samples.
The US did not conduct any biological research in Ukraine or Georgia.
Smallpox is closely related to monkeypox, but is a completely different virus.

Fact #9 : JYNNEOS Was Tested Against Monkeypox

The monkeypox and smallpox viruses are so closely related that the smallpox vaccine has been used for years to protect against monkeypox and other orthopoxviruses.

The earlier ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine has been largely replaced by the JYNNEOS vaccine (also called Imvamune / Imvanex), which was proven to be at least 85% effective in preventing monkeypox.

In fact, it was licensed in 2019 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the prevention of both smallpox and monkeypox.

And again, the monkeypox virus causing the 2022 outbreak is a close match of the Western Africa clade monkeypox virus that caused the 2018 and 2019 outbreaks.

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please support our work!

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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Monkeypox Outbreak In 20 Countries : Is It A New Pandemic?

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The Monkeypox outbreak has been confirmed in at least 20 countries outside of Africa!

Find out what Monkeypox is all about, and whether it is a new pandemic we have to worry about!

Monkeypox Outbreak : Is It A Pandemic Risk?

People are now worried about the rapid spread of monkeypox globally.

Discovered in 1958, the first human infection was only reported in 1970, and there were only like 400 cases from 1970 to 1986.

However, it became more common over time, with 2000 cases per year reported between 2011 and 2014.

There were also several outbreaks in the US (2003 and 2021), UK (2018 and 2021), and Singapore (2019), but nothing matched the latest 2022 outbreak.

As of 25 May 2022, there were 230 confirmed cases in at least 20 countries outside of Africa, and suspected cases in two other countries.

Country	Confirmed Cases	Suspected Cases	Total
Argentina	–	1	1
Australia	2	–	2
Austria	1	–	1
Belgium	6	1	7
Canada	15	1	16
Czech Republic	1	–	1
Denmark	2	–	2
Finland	1	–	1
France	5	–	5
Germany	5	–	5
Israel	1	–	1
Italy	6	2	8
Morocco	–	3	3
Netherlands	6	–	6
Portugal	49	–	49
Slovenia	1	–	1
Spain	51	43	94
Sweden	1	–	1
Switzerland	2	–	2
UAE	1	–	1
United Kingdom	71	–	71
United States	2	6	8
TOTAL	230	56	286

Monkeypox Outbreak : More Deadly, Unlikely To Cause A Pandemic

Monkeypox is more deadly than COVID-19, with mortality as high as 10% depending on the strain :

West African strain : 1% to 3%
Central African strain : 10%

Fortunately, the 2022 monkeypox outbreak appears to be of the less virulent West African strain, because there is no proven treatment.

The smallpox vaccine can offer up to 85% protection against monkeypox, and certain antiviral treatments can be attempted.

But otherwise – hospitals can only offer supportive treatment as the patient isolates for 2-4 weeks until the disease resolves.

Read more : What You Must Know About Monkeypox!

Monkeypox primarily spreads through close contact, but can spread through respiratory droplets. However, it is far less contagious and is not airborne like COVID-19.

Infected people are also not considered contagious until they start showing symptoms, which limits transmission. This is unlike COVID-19 which is often spread by people who are asymptomatic.

On the other hand, past outbreaks of monkeypox had an R0 of less than one. That means even though there may be clusters of several cases, even outbreaks, the cases die out on their own.

Virus	R0
Measles	12 to 18
Omicron COVID-19	8
Smallpox	5 to 7
Ancestral COVID-19	2 to 3
H1N1 (2009)	1.5 to 2.5
Monkeypox	<1

The people most at risk would be close contacts of the infected person, like family members or healthcare workers taking care of them.

Transmission is really happening from close physical contact, skin-to-skin contact. It’s quite different from COVID in that sense.
– Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Infectious Disease Epidemiologist

That is why it is very unlikely to become a pandemic, even though it is really abnormal for so many outbreaks to occur simultaneously.

There is also the fact that the monkeypox is so closely related to the smallpox virus, the smallpox vaccine offers 85% protection against monkeypox infections.

Several countries, including the United States, have strategic reserves of smallpox vaccines, which can be deployed in a monkeypox outbreak.

We have already worked to secure sufficient supply of effective treatments and vaccines to prevent those exposed from contracting monkeypox and treating people who’ve been affected.
– Dr. Raj Panjabi, White House Pandemic Office.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Monkeypox : What You Must Know About This Viral Infection!

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zFind out what Monkeypox is all about, and whether it is a new viral infection we have to worry about!

Monkeypox : What You Need To Know

People are now worried about the rapid spread of monkeypox globally, with cases in at least 20 countries outside of Africa.

Here are some facts about monkeypox that you should know…

Monkeypox Is Different From COVID-19

First, let me just clearly state this – the monkeypox virus is completely different from the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

The monkeypox virus is a double-stranded DNA virus from the Orthopoxvirus genus in the Poxviridae family. It is closely related to the smallpox virus (variola)

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is a single-stranded RNA virus from the Betacoronavirus genus in the Coronaviridae family. It is closely related to the SARS virus (SARS-CoV-1).

Monkeypox Is A Zoonotic Disease

Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease that is primarily carried and spread by animals, especially primates.

It was first discovered in monkeys in 1958, giving rise to the name – monkeypox. The first human case was only reported in 1970.

Monkeypox Is Getting More Common

The monkeypox virus used to be a relatively rare zoonotic virus, with about 400 human infections reported from 1970 to 1986 that were mostly limited to Central and West Africa.

It is becoming more common though, with 2000 cases per year reported between 2011 and 2014. Several small outbreaks in the US (2003 and 2021), UK (2018 and 2021), and Singapore (2019) were also reported.

In the current 2022 outbreak, over 200 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported in 21 countries.

Monkeypox : Transmission, Mortality + Disease Progression

Monkeypox Transmission

The monkeypox virus are generally transmitted through these methods :

animal-to-human : close contact, scratches or bites, or direct contact with bodily fluids
human-to-human : respiratory droplets or contact with bodily fluids or fomites (contaminated surfaces)

The virus enters the body through broken skin and the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth.

Risk factors for human transmission include sharing the same bed or room with an infected person, as well as having sexual intercourse or sharing utensils.

Monkeypox Mortality Rate

Monkeypox is not as easily transmitted as COVID-19, but has a significantly higher mortality rate depending on the strain :

West African strain : 1% to 3%
Central African strain : 10%

Fortunately, the infections in the 2022 monkeypox outbreak are of the less virulent West African strain.

How A Monkeypox Infection Progresses

After infection, the incubation period is usually 7-14 days, but can vary from 5-21 days.

The patient will start experiencing general symptoms like fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

Within 1-3 days though, the patient will develop lesions in the mouth, before they appear on the face and then spread to other parts of the body.

The first lesions appear on the tongue and in the mouth
A macular rash (flat, discoloured) then appears on the face, before spreading to the arms and legs and then hands and feet.
The macular rash will typically spread to the entire body within 24 hours, but is most concentrated on the face, arms and legs.
By the third day of the rash, the lesions will develop into elevated and palpable papules.
By the fourth to fifth day of the rash, the lesions will become fluid-filled vesicles.
By the sixth to seventh day, the vesicles will become pustular (filled with pus).
The pustules will be round and firm, with a depression in the centre, for the next 5-7 days.
By the end of the second week, the pustules will scab over for about a week before falling off.

Only after ALL of the scabs have fallen off is a person considered no longer contagious.

After the scabs have fallen off, the affected skin may appear pale before becoming dark marks, sometimes becoming pitted scars.

Monkeypox : Testing, Treatment + Prevention

Monkeypox Testing

Confirmation of a monkeypox infection is based on the detection of its viral DNA through real-time or conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

The doctor will swab the lesions and/or exudate and/or crusts, which is different from how samples are collected for COVID-19 tests.

Monkeypox Treatment

There is currently no proven treatment for monkeypox infections, which will generally resolve over 2-4 weeks.

Patient care is usually supportive in nature (antipyretic medicine, fluid balance and oxygenation), but in severe cases, several antiviral treatments can be attempted :

Cidofovir and Brincidofovir (CMX001), which have proven activity against poxviruses in laboratory and animal studies.
Tecovirimat (ST-246), which was shown in animal studies to be effective in treating orthopoxvirus-induced disease.
Vaccinia Immune Globulin (VIG)

I should point out that none of these antiviral treatments have been proven to work against monkeypox.

Smallpox Vaccine Can Protect Against Monkeypox

The monkeypox virus is so closely related to the (eradicated) smallpox virus, that the smallpox vaccine can protect against monkeypox.

The smallpox vaccine called JYNNEOS (Imvamune / Imvanex) was earlier proven to be at least 85% effective in preventing monkeypox, and was thus licensed for use against monkeypox. Another smallpox vaccine called ACAM2000 may also be used.

The smallpox vaccine can also be given to those who were just exposed to the virus, to reduce its symptoms.

But please do NOT call up your local clinic to ask for the smallpox vaccine. It has not been available in many countries for decades because smallpox was effectively eradicated in 1980.

Other Preventive Measures

In the absence of the smallpox vaccine, the same measures used to avoid COVID-19 can be adopted to also avoid monkeypox :

Avoid contact with animals that can harbour the virus, particular animals that are sick or have been found dead
Avoid contact with infected monkeypox patients and their close contacts
Avoid contact with objects or surfaces that have been in contact with a sick person / animal
Use personal protective equipment (PPE) while caring for patients – N95 face mask, face shield, etc.
Practice good hand hygiene, washing with soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand sanitiser

Monkeypox Isolation

Monkeypox patients must be isolated either in a hospital or at home, until all lesions are clear with a fresh layer of skin.

Close contact with other people should be avoided until all scabs have dropped off, which usually takes 2-4 weeks.

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