10 ms·

Monkeypox declared global health emergency by WHO as cases surge

117 points by jasonhansel 4y ago

nonameking2026 4y ago
[flagged]
- SSilver2k2 4y ago
  Yes. Get vaccinated when you can.
- retrac 4y ago
  Yes thankfully there are multiple extremely effective vaccines for the poxes. (So effective we have exterminated smallpox with them.) Unfortunately supply of the two modern vaccines is limited and likely will be into 2023. (Many countries do have huge stockpiles of the classic smallpox vaccine, which is also effective. But it's, you know, the old smallpox vaccine, live attenuated virus jabbed under the skin then allowed to do its thing, hopefully without too much scarring at the injection site. You don't want that one unless absolutely necessary.)
  - nonameking2026 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - nonameking2026 4y ago
      [flagged]
SeriousM 4y ago
spicyramen_ 4y ago
yosito 4y ago
According to the CDC: > Infections with the type of monkeypox virus identified in this outbreak ... are rarely fatal. Over 99% of people who get this form of the disease are likely to survive. However, people with ... a history of eczema ... may be more likely to ... die. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html I feel simultaneous relief and terror. While I do feel that the eczema part I've highlighted is probably some standard language around risk to people with immune conditions, I do wonder how much of a higher risk eczema poses in cases like this.
- amluto 4y ago
  Eczema appears to be a major risk factor for serious complications from the standard smallpox vaccines. Presumably this is related.
- ZoomerCretin 4y ago
  Monkeypox is a disease that is deadlier for children than adults. It's estimated to kill 15% of children. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478203/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478203/
  - HL33tibCe7 4y ago
    Depends on which strain. The strain in this outbreak appears mild.
    - truemotive 4y ago
      “Appears mild” when we don’t know a damn thing about Long COVID yet is quite the stretch.
      - Hellion 4y ago
        Unlike Covid, which is a relatively new family of virus to us, humans have hundreds of years with this family of disease We have a much firmer foundation of understanding monkeypox and it’s long term effects
crackercrews 4y ago
[flagged]
- jphalimi 4y ago
  Monkeypox is not an STD and it is not an airborne disease. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html
  - delecti 4y ago
    It's not, but from that link: > Even though it is not considered a sexually transmitted infection, monkeypox can spread during intimate physical contact between people. This contact can happen when you have sex[..] I think it's important to not let monkeypox be viewed as another "gay disease", both so people don't use that as an excuse to let their guard down, and also so that homophobia doesn't lead to violence, but we should also recognize that promiscuous sexual activity is a big risk factor.
  - ZoomerCretin 4y ago
    There is evidence from the NHS that it is airborne: https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1550820521234894850 https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1550820521234894850
    - twic 4y ago
      Eric Feigl-Ding states there is evidence from the NHS that it is airborne, which gives us a very, very strong prior that there is not in fact evidence from the NHS that it is airborne.
      - ZoomerCretin 4y ago
        Do you have some concrete reason for distrusting Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding?
      - napier 4y ago
        "For individuals with infection who have evidence of lower respiratory tract involvement or severe systemic illness requiring hospitalisation, the possibility of airborne transmission has not been excluded." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/principles-for-monkeypox-control-in-the-uk-4-nations-consensus-statement/principles-for-monkeypox-control-in-the-uk-4-nations-consensus-statement https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/principles-for-mo...
alexnewman 4y ago
What’s the r0
- dan-robertson 4y ago
  Historically it was about 1. Presumably it has been a little larger with this outbreak.
gardnr 4y ago
> “For all of these reasons I have decided Interesting that he chose "I" over "we". I wonder if there was internal dissent during the forming of the resolution.
- M2Ys4U 4y ago
  It's because the International Health Regulations confer the power to declare a PHEIC on the WHO's Director General alone, rather than the WHO as a whole (or any Emergency Committee established under it).
- echopom 4y ago
  I wish there was more accountability for International Institution. Saying "WHO Director Declare X" is obviously more accountable than "WHO said X must do Y" with a shadow comity deciding for 7 billion people and claiming it's not their fault when they are wrong...
sto_hristo 4y ago
I wonder, is public WCs (like in the office) a potent vector for this disease?
xwdv 4y ago
I’m skeptical. I feel after agencies declare global health emergencies such as for COVID, they become more willing to declare another one for something not as severe. I see no cause for alarm until I actually hear of local cases.
UIUC_06 4y ago
I do know a few people who've had COVID. I don't know a single one, not even a FOAF, who's had MP. Does anyone?
- lazide 4y ago
  They’re declaring it an emergency so you don’t know folks next month who’ve had it. That’s the point?
- ornornor 4y ago
  Didn’t everyone say that when Covid started? Now you’d be hard press to find someone who doesn’t know someone who had it (or had it themselves)
  - thinkingemote 4y ago
    I think when it (lockdown, not the initial spread) started everyone knew a friend of a friend who heard about someone with it. Degrees of connection. Indeed there were posts on this forum in the early days about it with first hand accounts. No such accounts with this so far? Personally, a school friend was one of the first cases in the country.
- kredd 4y ago
  If you have any friends in queer community, ask them and you’ll find a plenty data points.
- teen 4y ago
  I think I have it now. Not 100% sure though.
Ekaros 4y ago
Time to lock up again. Can't let it to start to spread. We must learn from Covid.
dan-robertson 4y ago
Note that the WHO has declared 7 of this specific category of emergency since it was defined 2009[1], so a little more frequently than every other year. Likely only one of those emergencies significantly affected most people in developed countries. I’m not in a high risk group and I personally won’t change my behaviour because of this, just as I didn’t for Ebola or Polio. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Health_Emergency_of_International_Concern#Declarations https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Health_Emergency_of_I...
- judge2020 4y ago
  Is it hard to believe that the WHO declaring something a global health emergency might be the direct cause of reduced infections/spread of these diseases?
  - kbelder 4y ago
    Well, yes.
- magicalist 4y ago
  > Note that the WHO has declared 7 of this specific category of emergency since it was defined 2009 I too read the second sentence in this article. > Likely only one of those emergencies significantly affected most people in developed countries. I’m not in a high risk group and I personally won’t change my behaviour because of this, just as I didn’t for Ebola or Polio. This declaration isn't calling for you to change your behavior. On the contrary, it's for international health communities to start coordinating before the disease has a chance to become widespread so that you can continue with your unchanged behavior.
  - dan-robertson 4y ago
    I thought it was a pretty important sentence. Mainly I wanted to balance out the comments on this thread a bit as there were many which seemed overly cautious/mildly alarmist and there were too many comparisons to covid which is not particularly similar except for being a virus and causing one of these declarations.
api 4y ago
- reocha 4y ago
  All my apes gone
msie 4y ago
I would hope that the spread would slow down by now with more news and education about how it spread but no dice. Sigh...
staticassertion 4y ago
Once again not caring about spending time with people in person turns out to be the ultimate survival life hack.
- kbos87 4y ago
  I don’t know, social isolation also carries some pretty substantial risks - https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/social-isolation-loneliness-older-people-pose-health-risks#:~:text=Research%20has%20linked%20social%20isolation,Alzheimer's%20disease%2C%20and%20even%20death https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/social-isolation-loneliness-old....
  - staticassertion 4y ago
    > Dr. Cacioppo’s research found that being alone and loneliness are different but related. Social isolation is the objective physical separation from other people (living alone), while loneliness is the subjective distressed feeling of being alone or separated. It’s possible to feel lonely while among other people, and you can be alone yet not feel lonely. Alone but not lonely, life hacked.
- thedrbrian 4y ago
  As long as you don’t have anal sex with them you can meet up with whoever you like https://www.eugyppius.com/p/urgent-monkeypox-alert-some-new-york https://www.eugyppius.com/p/urgent-monkeypox-alert-some-new-...
  - staticassertion 4y ago
    Defeats the purpose of meeting up with them then
  - Tainnor 4y ago
    Monkeypox is transmitted via close and extended contact, that's not limited to anal sex by any stretch of the imagination.
justinzollars 4y ago
> The director-general noted that the WHO's Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulation was "unable to reach a consensus" on whether to make the declaration itself (he actually over-ruled the committee which voted 9 to 6 against the declaration), compelling Tedros to make the declaration on his own.
password54321 4y ago
Seems to be mainly affecting the LGBTQ+ community.
- mensetmanusman 4y ago
  Which in the U.S. would be perceived to be quite a major issue: https://news.gallup.com/poll/147824/adults-estimate-americans-gay-lesbian.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/147824/adults-estimate-american... (This is one of my favorite stats.)
  - ed25519FUUU 4y ago
    No doubt due to the fact that LGBTQ characters are dramatically over-represented in US media.
  - TMWNN 4y ago
    Likely because of significant overrepresentation in today's media/news. For similar reasons, Americans consistently overestimate blacks and Hispanics' share of the US population. They estimate on average that 33% are black and 29% Hispanic when the true figure is less than 13% for each. <https://np.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3ncaz8/til_that_americans_consistently_overestimate/ https://np.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3ncaz8/til_th...>
- DIARRHEA_xd 4y ago
  Mostly the G community
aaron695 4y ago
lujim 4y ago
Just because covid turned out to be a global disaster doesn't mean everything will be. There were multiple SARS outbreaks in the ever so pleasant 2000's. Oh Ebola might have gone airborne in the 90's and has made some cameos since then. We all dropped the ball on covid, but that doesn't mean everything is going to get the same foothold. I guess what I'm saying is that I will wash my groceries again if something crazy shows up but let's not assume global pandemics are just going to kick off constantly.

117 points by jasonhansel 4y ago

nonameking2026 4y ago

[flagged]

SSilver2k2 4y ago
Yes. Get vaccinated when you can.
retrac 4y ago
Yes thankfully there are multiple extremely effective vaccines for the poxes. (So effective we have exterminated smallpox with them.) Unfortunately supply of the two modern vaccines is limited and likely will be into 2023. (Many countries do have huge stockpiles of the classic smallpox vaccine, which is also effective. But it's, you know, the old smallpox vaccine, live attenuated virus jabbed under the skin then allowed to do its thing, hopefully without too much scarring at the injection site. You don't want that one unless absolutely necessary.)
- nonameking2026 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - nonameking2026 4y ago
    [flagged]

SeriousM 4y ago

spicyramen_ 4y ago

yosito 4y ago

According to the CDC: > Infections with the type of monkeypox virus identified in this outbreak ... are rarely fatal. Over 99% of people who get this form of the disease are likely to survive. However, people with ... a history of eczema ... may be more likely to ... die. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html I feel simultaneous relief and terror. While I do feel that the eczema part I've highlighted is probably some standard language around risk to people with immune conditions, I do wonder how much of a higher risk eczema poses in cases like this.

amluto 4y ago
Eczema appears to be a major risk factor for serious complications from the standard smallpox vaccines. Presumably this is related.
ZoomerCretin 4y ago
Monkeypox is a disease that is deadlier for children than adults. It's estimated to kill 15% of children. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478203/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478203/
- HL33tibCe7 4y ago
  Depends on which strain. The strain in this outbreak appears mild.
  - truemotive 4y ago
    “Appears mild” when we don’t know a damn thing about Long COVID yet is quite the stretch.
    - Hellion 4y ago
      Unlike Covid, which is a relatively new family of virus to us, humans have hundreds of years with this family of disease We have a much firmer foundation of understanding monkeypox and it’s long term effects

crackercrews 4y ago

[flagged]

jphalimi 4y ago
Monkeypox is not an STD and it is not an airborne disease. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html
- delecti 4y ago
  It's not, but from that link: > Even though it is not considered a sexually transmitted infection, monkeypox can spread during intimate physical contact between people. This contact can happen when you have sex[..] I think it's important to not let monkeypox be viewed as another "gay disease", both so people don't use that as an excuse to let their guard down, and also so that homophobia doesn't lead to violence, but we should also recognize that promiscuous sexual activity is a big risk factor.
- ZoomerCretin 4y ago
  There is evidence from the NHS that it is airborne: https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1550820521234894850 https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1550820521234894850
  - twic 4y ago
    Eric Feigl-Ding states there is evidence from the NHS that it is airborne, which gives us a very, very strong prior that there is not in fact evidence from the NHS that it is airborne.
    - ZoomerCretin 4y ago
      Do you have some concrete reason for distrusting Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding?
    - napier 4y ago
      "For individuals with infection who have evidence of lower respiratory tract involvement or severe systemic illness requiring hospitalisation, the possibility of airborne transmission has not been excluded." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/principles-for-monkeypox-control-in-the-uk-4-nations-consensus-statement/principles-for-monkeypox-control-in-the-uk-4-nations-consensus-statement https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/principles-for-mo...

alexnewman 4y ago

What’s the r0

dan-robertson 4y ago
Historically it was about 1. Presumably it has been a little larger with this outbreak.

gardnr 4y ago

> “For all of these reasons I have decided Interesting that he chose "I" over "we". I wonder if there was internal dissent during the forming of the resolution.

M2Ys4U 4y ago
It's because the International Health Regulations confer the power to declare a PHEIC on the WHO's Director General alone, rather than the WHO as a whole (or any Emergency Committee established under it).
echopom 4y ago
I wish there was more accountability for International Institution. Saying "WHO Director Declare X" is obviously more accountable than "WHO said X must do Y" with a shadow comity deciding for 7 billion people and claiming it's not their fault when they are wrong...

sto_hristo 4y ago

I wonder, is public WCs (like in the office) a potent vector for this disease?

xwdv 4y ago

I’m skeptical. I feel after agencies declare global health emergencies such as for COVID, they become more willing to declare another one for something not as severe. I see no cause for alarm until I actually hear of local cases.

UIUC_06 4y ago

I do know a few people who've had COVID. I don't know a single one, not even a FOAF, who's had MP. Does anyone?

lazide 4y ago
They’re declaring it an emergency so you don’t know folks next month who’ve had it. That’s the point?
ornornor 4y ago
Didn’t everyone say that when Covid started? Now you’d be hard press to find someone who doesn’t know someone who had it (or had it themselves)
- thinkingemote 4y ago
  I think when it (lockdown, not the initial spread) started everyone knew a friend of a friend who heard about someone with it. Degrees of connection. Indeed there were posts on this forum in the early days about it with first hand accounts. No such accounts with this so far? Personally, a school friend was one of the first cases in the country.
kredd 4y ago
If you have any friends in queer community, ask them and you’ll find a plenty data points.
teen 4y ago
I think I have it now. Not 100% sure though.

Ekaros 4y ago

Time to lock up again. Can't let it to start to spread. We must learn from Covid.

dan-robertson 4y ago

Note that the WHO has declared 7 of this specific category of emergency since it was defined 2009[1], so a little more frequently than every other year. Likely only one of those emergencies significantly affected most people in developed countries. I’m not in a high risk group and I personally won’t change my behaviour because of this, just as I didn’t for Ebola or Polio. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Health_Emergency_of_International_Concern#Declarations https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Health_Emergency_of_I...

judge2020 4y ago
Is it hard to believe that the WHO declaring something a global health emergency might be the direct cause of reduced infections/spread of these diseases?
- kbelder 4y ago
  Well, yes.
magicalist 4y ago
> Note that the WHO has declared 7 of this specific category of emergency since it was defined 2009 I too read the second sentence in this article. > Likely only one of those emergencies significantly affected most people in developed countries. I’m not in a high risk group and I personally won’t change my behaviour because of this, just as I didn’t for Ebola or Polio. This declaration isn't calling for you to change your behavior. On the contrary, it's for international health communities to start coordinating before the disease has a chance to become widespread so that you can continue with your unchanged behavior.
- dan-robertson 4y ago
  I thought it was a pretty important sentence. Mainly I wanted to balance out the comments on this thread a bit as there were many which seemed overly cautious/mildly alarmist and there were too many comparisons to covid which is not particularly similar except for being a virus and causing one of these declarations.

api 4y ago

reocha 4y ago
All my apes gone

msie 4y ago

I would hope that the spread would slow down by now with more news and education about how it spread but no dice. Sigh...

staticassertion 4y ago

Once again not caring about spending time with people in person turns out to be the ultimate survival life hack.

kbos87 4y ago
I don’t know, social isolation also carries some pretty substantial risks - https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/social-isolation-loneliness-older-people-pose-health-risks#:~:text=Research%20has%20linked%20social%20isolation,Alzheimer's%20disease%2C%20and%20even%20death https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/social-isolation-loneliness-old....
- staticassertion 4y ago
  > Dr. Cacioppo’s research found that being alone and loneliness are different but related. Social isolation is the objective physical separation from other people (living alone), while loneliness is the subjective distressed feeling of being alone or separated. It’s possible to feel lonely while among other people, and you can be alone yet not feel lonely. Alone but not lonely, life hacked.
thedrbrian 4y ago
As long as you don’t have anal sex with them you can meet up with whoever you like https://www.eugyppius.com/p/urgent-monkeypox-alert-some-new-york https://www.eugyppius.com/p/urgent-monkeypox-alert-some-new-...
- staticassertion 4y ago
  Defeats the purpose of meeting up with them then
- Tainnor 4y ago
  Monkeypox is transmitted via close and extended contact, that's not limited to anal sex by any stretch of the imagination.

justinzollars 4y ago

> The director-general noted that the WHO's Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulation was "unable to reach a consensus" on whether to make the declaration itself (he actually over-ruled the committee which voted 9 to 6 against the declaration), compelling Tedros to make the declaration on his own.

password54321 4y ago

Seems to be mainly affecting the LGBTQ+ community.

mensetmanusman 4y ago
Which in the U.S. would be perceived to be quite a major issue: https://news.gallup.com/poll/147824/adults-estimate-americans-gay-lesbian.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/147824/adults-estimate-american... (This is one of my favorite stats.)
- ed25519FUUU 4y ago
  No doubt due to the fact that LGBTQ characters are dramatically over-represented in US media.
- TMWNN 4y ago
  Likely because of significant overrepresentation in today's media/news. For similar reasons, Americans consistently overestimate blacks and Hispanics' share of the US population. They estimate on average that 33% are black and 29% Hispanic when the true figure is less than 13% for each. <https://np.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3ncaz8/til_that_americans_consistently_overestimate/ https://np.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3ncaz8/til_th...>
DIARRHEA_xd 4y ago
Mostly the G community

aaron695 4y ago

lujim 4y ago

Just because covid turned out to be a global disaster doesn't mean everything will be. There were multiple SARS outbreaks in the ever so pleasant 2000's. Oh Ebola might have gone airborne in the 90's and has made some cameos since then. We all dropped the ball on covid, but that doesn't mean everything is going to get the same foothold. I guess what I'm saying is that I will wash my groceries again if something crazy shows up but let's not assume global pandemics are just going to kick off constantly.