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The world is in the grip of two virulent viruses - the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19 and the Monkeypox virus. But, how are they different from each other? Can the monkeypox virus also lead to another pandemic in the near future? what awaits us? let's discuss everything about these two viruses and understand how one differs from the other.
At a time when the world is struggling to deal with the worst virus outbreak in the history of mankind - COVID-19, reports of a monkeypox outbreak come as a double whammy. Both the viruses are equally dangerous on the ground of transmission. In the latest updates, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that the monkeypox virus has already entered over 12 countries and is slowly leading its way to become another serious challenge for healthcare workers. However, with all the news about its transmission rate and other details doing the rounds on the social media, causing much panic around the disease, experts have assured us that monkeypox virus infection is less severe than the COVID-19 virus infection. Speaking to the media the experts said, "The virus is dramatically less contagious than COVID-19."
The SARS-CoV-2 virus which is responsible for causing COVID-19 infection was first detected in late 2019, in a market in China's Wuhan city. However, the monkeypox virus was first discovered in 1958. Back then it was only dominant in the regions of South and Central Africa. Later, in the year 2021, the United States reported the very first case of the virus infection (almost after 20 years). But according to the figures, the cases were fewer and no outbreak was reported.
It was only recently that the virus was found spreading rapidly in various countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada and Israel. Taking cognizance of the situation, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a statement to caution people against the deadly virus infection. "The situation is evolving and WHO expects there will be more cases of monkeypox identified as surveillance expands in non-endemic countries," the global health body said.
"Epidemiological investigations are ongoing, however, reported cases thus far have no established travel links to endemic areas. Based on currently available information, cases have mainly but not exclusively been identified amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) seeking care in primary care and sexual health clinics," it further added.
While the coronavirus disease or COVID-19 is caused is a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), monkeypox is linked to the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.
However, the host of both viruses is animals. While COVID-19 was first detected in bats, the latter is said to usually spread and circulate among wild animals in Central and West Africa.
Studies have shown that the monkeypox virus can be transmitted to humans when there is a close contact of an individual with any infectious material from skin lesions of an infected person, through respiratory droplets in prolonged face-to-face contact, and through fomites.
Additionally, while COVID-19 contains single strands of genetic material called RNA, the monkeypox virus carries a double-stranded genetic code in DNA.
While COVID-19 has already taken the lives of millions globally, experts believe that the monkeypox virus is less dangerous and lethal than COVID-19. Compared to the Monkeypox virus, COVID-19 is more dangerous as it can spread rapidly from one person to another. Speaking to the media experts stated that the monkeypox virus can be serious but the outbreaks that occur involve a few hundred people and that too it is not as lethal as COVID-19 since the virus isn't transmitted that readily from one person to another.
Both COVID-19 and monkeypox infections are caused by viruses. However, they two cause very different symptoms. While COVID-19 leads to symptoms like -
Monkeypox can lead to symptoms like -
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) some of the symptoms are:
Vaccines to protect against COVID-19 are already available in the market. However, vaccines to protect one from monkeypox are still not there. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there's no proven treatment for monkeypox specifically, but since monkeypox is closely related to smallpox, the smallpox vaccine, antivirals, and vaccinia immune globulin can protect people from getting monkeypox.