29 ms·

What is really curious is this: The name monkeypox originates from the initial discovery of the virus in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958. The first

What is really curious is this: The name monkeypox originates from the initial discovery of the virus in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958. The first human case was identified in a child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970 Are there known interactions with locals and monkeys? Are they consumed? edit: so there is consumption monkey meat is common in bush meat stalls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central Africa in general, with red-tailed and crowned guenons, baboons and agile mangabeys being the most common

ummonk 4y ago
Humans don’t get it from monkeys - we get it from other mammals such as rodents. Monkeys are just the first species in which the disease was noticed and identified.
XorNot 4y ago
It's like when COVID strains were called things like "the UK variant" - it conveys no meaning about true origin. Monkeys can get monkeypox, which means they're not the reservoir animal. So presuming human-monkey is how the jump happened is starting off down the wrong path.
- jdminhbg 4y ago
  > Monkeys can get monkeypox, which means they're not the reservoir animal. I agree with the rest of your comment, but is this part actually true? I would think an animal could serve as a reservoir as long as the disease isn't deadly. But I don't know and I'm happy to be corrected if wrong.
  - XorNot 4y ago
    The short version is no: if you get symptoms and recover, then the immune system has cleared it, so you can't be a carrier. The obvious counter-example is herpes - where you periodically get symptoms and become infectious, but otherwise are not. In the case of monkeypox though, as far as is currently known they are not major carriers of the disease - the name is just the animal it was first isolated in, since numerous other animals can be infected. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeypox#Reservoir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeypox#Reservoir
    - jdminhbg 4y ago
      Thanks for the explanation, I hadn't considered the immune system clearing it.
    - im3w1l 4y ago
      > The short version is no: if you get symptoms and recover, then the immune system has cleared it, so you can't be a carrier. That's not necessarily true. Many viruses are only pushed into dormancy by the immune system, and can come back and give you symptoms years later, at which point they can spread to other people. For example: Chickenpox, herpes, hiv.
avl999 4y ago
These kind of posts is exactly why the WHO naming scheme for viruses discourages naming viruses after animals, places, people or landmarks. Best case it can cause a misunderstanding, worst case lead to people to actively arrive at wrong conclusion.
- lostlogin 4y ago
  Our of curiosity, what is a name that wouldn’t rapidly become lost in a morass of similar names?
  - yread 4y ago
    How about Orthopox Virus Disease 2022 - ORVID-22 for short. We really risk alienating the corvids though - Carl Bergstrom wouldn't like it
- joaonmatos 4y ago
  Yep. The main case cluster in Portugal has been traced back to a sauna in Lisbon, and already people are reverting to harmful 80s/hiv era jokes like ‘the homosexuals are f**ing monkeys’.
c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
There was an imported case in Singapore a few years ago. " The patient reported that prior to his arrival in Singapore, he had attended a wedding in Nigeria, where he may have consumed bush meat, which could be a source of transmission of monkeypox virus." https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/confirmed-imported-case-of-monkeypox-in-singapore https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/confirmed-imp...
- vfclists 4y ago
  This is just nonsense. Bush meat is a racist term concocted by European researchers. "Bush meat" is simply meat obtained by trapping or hunting, as opposed to farming. When Europeans or Americans hunt boar, ducks, wild pigs, dear etc is it called "bush meat"? And if he may have consumed bush meat, was the bush meat raw or cooked? Did he handle the raw meat himself? Was there an outbreak among the guests at the wedding? Are weddings the only place bush meat is available in Nigeria? The kind of idiotic speculation Europeans engage in when it comes to Africa is totally of the chain. They make all kinds of outlandish claims knowing that they don't have to justify them because in Africa anything goes. The guy caught monkey pox period. No need to add any outlandish speculations to it.
  - Normille 4y ago
    It must be really tiring for people who feel the need to spend their entire life policing the written and spoken words of others for signs of 'rayyy-cism' where none was intended. I bet you also get outraged if someone refers to a 'blackboard' instead of a 'chalkboard'.
    - vfclists 4y ago
      The bush meat angle is total nonsense. Did he claim to catch the animal live or handle the raw meat before it was cooked? It is only in that case where the "bush" meat angle makes sense.
  - AvocadoPanic 4y ago
    Nigerian national in Singapore with monkeypox. In this instance it's African and Asian speculation. Your bias is showing.

ummonk 4y ago

Humans don’t get it from monkeys - we get it from other mammals such as rodents. Monkeys are just the first species in which the disease was noticed and identified.

XorNot 4y ago

It's like when COVID strains were called things like "the UK variant" - it conveys no meaning about true origin. Monkeys can get monkeypox, which means they're not the reservoir animal. So presuming human-monkey is how the jump happened is starting off down the wrong path.

jdminhbg 4y ago
> Monkeys can get monkeypox, which means they're not the reservoir animal. I agree with the rest of your comment, but is this part actually true? I would think an animal could serve as a reservoir as long as the disease isn't deadly. But I don't know and I'm happy to be corrected if wrong.
- XorNot 4y ago
  The short version is no: if you get symptoms and recover, then the immune system has cleared it, so you can't be a carrier. The obvious counter-example is herpes - where you periodically get symptoms and become infectious, but otherwise are not. In the case of monkeypox though, as far as is currently known they are not major carriers of the disease - the name is just the animal it was first isolated in, since numerous other animals can be infected. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeypox#Reservoir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeypox#Reservoir
  - jdminhbg 4y ago
    Thanks for the explanation, I hadn't considered the immune system clearing it.
  - im3w1l 4y ago
    > The short version is no: if you get symptoms and recover, then the immune system has cleared it, so you can't be a carrier. That's not necessarily true. Many viruses are only pushed into dormancy by the immune system, and can come back and give you symptoms years later, at which point they can spread to other people. For example: Chickenpox, herpes, hiv.

avl999 4y ago

These kind of posts is exactly why the WHO naming scheme for viruses discourages naming viruses after animals, places, people or landmarks. Best case it can cause a misunderstanding, worst case lead to people to actively arrive at wrong conclusion.

lostlogin 4y ago
Our of curiosity, what is a name that wouldn’t rapidly become lost in a morass of similar names?
- yread 4y ago
  How about Orthopox Virus Disease 2022 - ORVID-22 for short. We really risk alienating the corvids though - Carl Bergstrom wouldn't like it
joaonmatos 4y ago
Yep. The main case cluster in Portugal has been traced back to a sauna in Lisbon, and already people are reverting to harmful 80s/hiv era jokes like ‘the homosexuals are f**ing monkeys’.

c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago

There was an imported case in Singapore a few years ago. " The patient reported that prior to his arrival in Singapore, he had attended a wedding in Nigeria, where he may have consumed bush meat, which could be a source of transmission of monkeypox virus." https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/confirmed-imported-case-of-monkeypox-in-singapore https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/confirmed-imp...

vfclists 4y ago
This is just nonsense. Bush meat is a racist term concocted by European researchers. "Bush meat" is simply meat obtained by trapping or hunting, as opposed to farming. When Europeans or Americans hunt boar, ducks, wild pigs, dear etc is it called "bush meat"? And if he may have consumed bush meat, was the bush meat raw or cooked? Did he handle the raw meat himself? Was there an outbreak among the guests at the wedding? Are weddings the only place bush meat is available in Nigeria? The kind of idiotic speculation Europeans engage in when it comes to Africa is totally of the chain. They make all kinds of outlandish claims knowing that they don't have to justify them because in Africa anything goes. The guy caught monkey pox period. No need to add any outlandish speculations to it.
- Normille 4y ago
  It must be really tiring for people who feel the need to spend their entire life policing the written and spoken words of others for signs of 'rayyy-cism' where none was intended. I bet you also get outraged if someone refers to a 'blackboard' instead of a 'chalkboard'.
  - vfclists 4y ago
    The bush meat angle is total nonsense. Did he claim to catch the animal live or handle the raw meat before it was cooked? It is only in that case where the "bush" meat angle makes sense.
- AvocadoPanic 4y ago
  Nigerian national in Singapore with monkeypox. In this instance it's African and Asian speculation. Your bias is showing.