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Transmission information according to the CDC: Transmission of monkeypox virus occurs when a person comes into contact with the virus from an animal, human, or

Transmission information according to the CDC: Transmission of monkeypox virus occurs when a person comes into contact with the virus from an animal, human, or materials contaminated with the virus. The virus enters the body through broken skin (even if not visible), respiratory tract, or the mucous membranes (eyes, nose, or mouth). Animal-to-human transmission may occur by bite or scratch, bush meat preparation, direct contact with body fluids or lesion material, or indirect contact with lesion material, such as through contaminated bedding. Human-to-human transmission is thought to occur primarily through large respiratory droplets. Respiratory droplets generally cannot travel more than a few feet, so prolonged face-to-face contact is required. Other human-to-human methods of transmission include direct contact with body fluids or lesion material, and indirect contact with lesion material, such as through contaminated clothing or linens. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/transmission.html https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/transmission.html

bufferoverflow 4y ago
So basically you either have to cough into someone's face, or kiss them, or get bitten, or have sex with them to transmit the virus. Stop worrying. This isn't another coronavirus-level pandemic.
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  Not to mention most of the identified infections were sex-related, making it even less of an issue. Most people aren't promiscuous so it will be very difficult to spread far that way. There's other transmission routes of course but they seem to be much less potent.
- tonyg 4y ago
  FTA: "people are poring over the data right now and comparing it to "classic" monkeypox sequences to see if this a new variant, perhaps with enhanced transmissibility. So far there are no glaring signs of that, but this work is very much ongoing; it's just too early to draw any conclusions."
- at-fates-hands 4y ago
  This was an interesting development: Health officials are investigating whether a number of monkeypox cases in the UK were sexually transmitted – in what one expert fears could be the first recorded instances of their kind. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has detected seven monkeypox cases in total, all of which were diagnosed between 6 and 15 May. Four new ones were confirmed last week. Three of the new cases are in London and one linked case is in the north east of England. All four sufferers are men who identify as gay, bisexual or as men who have sex with men (MSM). https://inews.co.uk/news/health/monkeypox-uk-outbreak-first-recorded-cases-disease-sexually-transmitted-1633696 https://inews.co.uk/news/health/monkeypox-uk-outbreak-first-...
- outworlder 4y ago
  AIDS had even less avenues for transmission and it became a pandemic.
  - bufferoverflow 4y ago
    HIV is nowhere near the coronavirus in transmissibility. It's been around for decades, and even now only around 1-2% of the population got it, mostly drug addicts who shared needles and people who have unprotected sex (mostly anal) with strangers.
  - Mountain_Skies 4y ago
    Monkeypox is symptomatic quickly and once resolved in the next couple of months, the infected person ceases to be infectious. That's very different than HIV, which rarely goes away in an infected person and doesn't develop into symptomatic AIDS on a similar timeframe as monkeypox. This makes HIV much more difficult to control.
    - etiam 4y ago
      Obviously you have a point about the different timescales, but the CDC lists 7−14 days as a typical incubation time and a fuller range of 5−21 days. That's fairly long and nice for cases which are being successfully contact traced, but also generous room for sh*t to happen in cases where the trail is lost. Monkeypox already has observed fomite transmission (i.e. via contaminated materials), but what's more: it is a poxvirus! It's next of kin of an pathogen known to display true airborne transmission. Maybe for now it's not adept enough at infecting humans to manage on small amounts of the finest aerosols or dried out excretion smoke, but how long is that going to last if this (already atypical) strain can manage to build up variance infecting large numbers of people in densely populated areas? HIV is not that difficult to control in theory. You just test everyone, recurringly, and have the infected individuals strictly adhere to measures to prevent spreading the contagion. Problem managed. As we know, in practice that's prohibitively difficult to bring about. Several weeks to symptoms with ability to contaminate shared environments and potential to develop ability for mass transmissions could be a nasty thing to manage in practice too. This is already on several continents and health authorities don't seem all that on top of what could well emerge over the next few weeks, as incubations time out. So I wouldn't be wildly surprised if we can look back in a month or so and say by late May it was already technically a pandemic. But let's hope, of course, that the transmissibility really is fairly low, that the current reach is a quirk of circumstances, and that all the outbreaks can still be contained. Otherwise I guess it's time to urgently draw on prior research in vaccines for the second time in a small number of years.
- mdp2021 4y ago
  > cough into someone's face That is not a necessary limited interpretation of «prolonged face-to-face contact».
ryandvm 4y ago
Not looking forward to seeing "bush meat preparation" turning into a red vs blue issue...
- RappingBoomer 4y ago
  red: bush meat provides vital nutrients and is the perfect paleo diet! blue: bush meat consumption increases worldwide temperatures! If you eat bush meat, you dine with hitler!
outworlder 4y ago
> Respiratory droplets generally cannot travel more than a few feet, so prolonged face-to-face contact is required On no, not this droplet thing again. The CDC said the same thing about SARS-COV-2. Hopefully they are right this time.
- yupper32 4y ago
  I think the biggest failure wasn't the CDC being wrong at first, it was society not being receptive to changes. It's impossible to be correct every single time. The only thing they can do is say what they know so far.
  - pmlnr 4y ago
    Nope, that was not it: the definition of droplet was f'd up. It is corrected now. https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/ https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwu...
    - yupper32 4y ago
      ...that article says exactly what I said. The CDC was initially wrong, and after some good science and convincing, they changed their stance. That's how science works... and numbers like 5 microns which have been ingrained for a while take some real work to change. What exactly is wrong with my statement?
- oldstrangers 4y ago
  They didn't realize covid was essentially airborne at the time. Monkeypox is definitely not an airborne virus (yet).
  - pmlnr 4y ago
    YES, they did. The definition of droplet/airborne was wrong and it took a very long time to correct it. https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/ https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwu...

bufferoverflow 4y ago

So basically you either have to cough into someone's face, or kiss them, or get bitten, or have sex with them to transmit the virus. Stop worrying. This isn't another coronavirus-level pandemic.

GekkePrutser 4y ago
Not to mention most of the identified infections were sex-related, making it even less of an issue. Most people aren't promiscuous so it will be very difficult to spread far that way. There's other transmission routes of course but they seem to be much less potent.
tonyg 4y ago
FTA: "people are poring over the data right now and comparing it to "classic" monkeypox sequences to see if this a new variant, perhaps with enhanced transmissibility. So far there are no glaring signs of that, but this work is very much ongoing; it's just too early to draw any conclusions."
at-fates-hands 4y ago
This was an interesting development: Health officials are investigating whether a number of monkeypox cases in the UK were sexually transmitted – in what one expert fears could be the first recorded instances of their kind. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has detected seven monkeypox cases in total, all of which were diagnosed between 6 and 15 May. Four new ones were confirmed last week. Three of the new cases are in London and one linked case is in the north east of England. All four sufferers are men who identify as gay, bisexual or as men who have sex with men (MSM). https://inews.co.uk/news/health/monkeypox-uk-outbreak-first-recorded-cases-disease-sexually-transmitted-1633696 https://inews.co.uk/news/health/monkeypox-uk-outbreak-first-...
outworlder 4y ago
AIDS had even less avenues for transmission and it became a pandemic.
- bufferoverflow 4y ago
  HIV is nowhere near the coronavirus in transmissibility. It's been around for decades, and even now only around 1-2% of the population got it, mostly drug addicts who shared needles and people who have unprotected sex (mostly anal) with strangers.
- Mountain_Skies 4y ago
  Monkeypox is symptomatic quickly and once resolved in the next couple of months, the infected person ceases to be infectious. That's very different than HIV, which rarely goes away in an infected person and doesn't develop into symptomatic AIDS on a similar timeframe as monkeypox. This makes HIV much more difficult to control.
  - etiam 4y ago
    Obviously you have a point about the different timescales, but the CDC lists 7−14 days as a typical incubation time and a fuller range of 5−21 days. That's fairly long and nice for cases which are being successfully contact traced, but also generous room for sh*t to happen in cases where the trail is lost. Monkeypox already has observed fomite transmission (i.e. via contaminated materials), but what's more: it is a poxvirus! It's next of kin of an pathogen known to display true airborne transmission. Maybe for now it's not adept enough at infecting humans to manage on small amounts of the finest aerosols or dried out excretion smoke, but how long is that going to last if this (already atypical) strain can manage to build up variance infecting large numbers of people in densely populated areas? HIV is not that difficult to control in theory. You just test everyone, recurringly, and have the infected individuals strictly adhere to measures to prevent spreading the contagion. Problem managed. As we know, in practice that's prohibitively difficult to bring about. Several weeks to symptoms with ability to contaminate shared environments and potential to develop ability for mass transmissions could be a nasty thing to manage in practice too. This is already on several continents and health authorities don't seem all that on top of what could well emerge over the next few weeks, as incubations time out. So I wouldn't be wildly surprised if we can look back in a month or so and say by late May it was already technically a pandemic. But let's hope, of course, that the transmissibility really is fairly low, that the current reach is a quirk of circumstances, and that all the outbreaks can still be contained. Otherwise I guess it's time to urgently draw on prior research in vaccines for the second time in a small number of years.
mdp2021 4y ago
> cough into someone's face That is not a necessary limited interpretation of «prolonged face-to-face contact».

ryandvm 4y ago

Not looking forward to seeing "bush meat preparation" turning into a red vs blue issue...

RappingBoomer 4y ago
red: bush meat provides vital nutrients and is the perfect paleo diet! blue: bush meat consumption increases worldwide temperatures! If you eat bush meat, you dine with hitler!

outworlder 4y ago

> Respiratory droplets generally cannot travel more than a few feet, so prolonged face-to-face contact is required On no, not this droplet thing again. The CDC said the same thing about SARS-COV-2. Hopefully they are right this time.

yupper32 4y ago
I think the biggest failure wasn't the CDC being wrong at first, it was society not being receptive to changes. It's impossible to be correct every single time. The only thing they can do is say what they know so far.
- pmlnr 4y ago
  Nope, that was not it: the definition of droplet was f'd up. It is corrected now. https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/ https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwu...
  - yupper32 4y ago
    ...that article says exactly what I said. The CDC was initially wrong, and after some good science and convincing, they changed their stance. That's how science works... and numbers like 5 microns which have been ingrained for a while take some real work to change. What exactly is wrong with my statement?
oldstrangers 4y ago
They didn't realize covid was essentially airborne at the time. Monkeypox is definitely not an airborne virus (yet).
- pmlnr 4y ago
  YES, they did. The definition of droplet/airborne was wrong and it took a very long time to correct it. https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/ https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwu...