Monkeypox: How to protect against rare viral threat

Infectious disease and public health specialists have raised an alarm as cases of monkeypox have spread throughout Europe and the United States. Monkeypox is a member of the orthopox family of viruses, related to smallpox virus, which was eradicated through vaccination in 1980.

Here, infectious disease specialist Sandro Cinti, M.D. answers some basic questions about monkeypox and how to protect yourself.

How does monkeypox spread?

Cinti: Monkeypox does not spread like flu or COVID, it spreads via close personal contact, including during sexual encounters. At the moment, it's been spreading mostly among men who have sex with men, but it can also be transmitted among family members who are in close contact, though not very efficiently.

This is not an extremely transmissible disease; nowhere near the level of COVID or influenza. Contact usually requires more than three hours of exposure within six feet and usually direct contact with legions rather than respiratory droplets. It can also spread via contaminated linen and clothing.

The World Health Organization is currently saying this does not constitute a global public health emergency and has not widely spread within the community. If there begin to be more cases spreading in a way that is different, including droplet transmission, I think the WHO might revisit it as an emergency.

How would you recognize if you had monkeypox?