Monkeypox less dangerous than Covid-19 despite higher fatality rate, claims expert

The monkeypox outbreak has shook the world amid Covid-19. The number of cases associated with the new virus are increasing at an alarming rate.

While the United Nations AIDS agency claims that some reporting upon this issue is racist and homophobic, Belgium has introduced a 21-day mandatory quarantine for monkeypox patients. Amid this chaos, Otago University biochemistry professor Kurt Krause came ahead to resolve certain doubts around the monkeypox virus.

In conversation with an international news service – Newshub, Krause unveiled that the monkeypox virus is less dangerous than Covid-19 although it has a higher fatality rate.

This comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a list to confirm that there are currently 92 monkeypox cases across the globe. The organisation further suspects 28 more cases in 12 countries as it is now ramping up surveillance in nations where the disease isn’t commonly found.

The UN agency is expected to release advice and recommendations in reference to the monkeypox disease in the next few days.

As mentioned by Krause, monkeypox – which is a relative of smallpox and chickenpox, commonly occurs in small outbreaks.

“Monkeypox can be serious but generally speaking, the outbreaks that occur involve a few hundred people and they fizzle out because the virus isn’t transmitted that readily from one person to another”, he added.

The biochemistry expert asserted that the strain of monkeypox which is currently infecting people across the globe is from west Africa and it has a fatality rate of nearly 1 per cent.

“It looks like the cases are the west African strain, so that would be in the lower group, but it’s so much different from coronavirus in that it’s so much less transmissible and once you get to the pox stage, it’s quite apparent. The COVID-19 fatality rate is about a third to half of a percent depending on which strain. Omicron is a little bit less than that, Delta was about that rate”, Krause added.

According to Krause, a big difference between the two viruses is that monkeypox is “dramatically less contagious” than Covid-19. As the R-value of monkeypox traditionally stands at less than one, an existing monkeypox patient is likely to cause less than one new infection.

Referring to the first probable case of monkeypox in Australia, Krause said that there is no need to be worried about the virus. “I think we are going to be okay. We need to keep our eye on it and I think it’s possible New Zealand could get one or two cases, but it’s not likely to spread,” he affirmed.

As per the UK Health Security Agency, symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, headache, fatigue and shivering are seen in infected patients.

The rash starts appearing on the faces of the patients, and gradually spreads to other parts of the body. When the effect subsides, it dries up and gets separated from the skin.