> That turned out to be the case with the 2022 epidemic. No, it didn't. There were less than 100,000 cases globally in the 2022 outbreak. At the peak of the ou

> That turned out to be the case with the 2022 epidemic. No, it didn't. There were less than 100,000 cases globally in the 2022 outbreak. At the peak of the outbreak, in the US, there were about 500 cases a day, nationwide. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/mpox/response/2022/mpx-trends.html https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/mpox/response/2022/mpx-trends.h... > This is a novel virus variant which is spreading with enhanced efficacy Aside from some scary quotes in a BBC article, there's no evidence of what you're claiming. There have been less than 14,000 cases since the beginning of the year. That sounds like a lot, but we're talking about multiple countries in Africa. It's not a huge number. > My question to you then...is how many cases does it take before most "first-world" countries are in that situation as well? The USA may be better off than most due to strategic stockpiles of anti-smallpox measures, but let's say for the typical rest of them. It has nothing to do with anti-smallpox measures. Once someone has the virus, treatment is symptomatic: https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/mpox/clinicians/treatment.html https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/mpox/clinicians/treatment.html Those things matter to completely contain the spread of the virus, but once someone is infected it comes down to people being healthy enough to survive any infection. Remember: uncontrolled HIV is rampant in these parts of the world. That alone probably explains a lot of the elevated mortality in this outbreak. The first world is fundamentally a different place when it comes to viruses like this. It's not something you need to worry about.