Health
Is mpox the next COVID? Infectious disease experts address pandemic potential
As mpox (formerly monkeypox) has been declared a global public health emergency, some are wondering whether the virus poses the risk of a COVID-like pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the mpox outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” on Aug. 14, based on a surge of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and multiple African countries.
As of Aug. 17, there were 545 reports of mpox cases since the outbreak was declared, 474 of which were confirmed, according to data from WHO.
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Symptoms include a sometimes painful rash on various parts of the body, fever, chills, exhaustion, muscle aches, headache, swollen lymph nodes and respiratory symptoms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There are two types of mpox: Clade 1 and Clade 2.
The World Health Organization officially declared the mpox outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” on Aug. 14. (iStock)
Clade 2 was the strain that caused the 2022 global outbreak, the CDC noted. Survival rates for this type are more than 99.9%.
Clade 1, which is responsible for the current outbreak in the DRC and Africa, causes more severe illness and deaths.
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“Some outbreaks have killed up to 10% of the people who get sick, although more recent outbreaks have had lower death rates,” the CDC noted.
“The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighboring countries are very worrying,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus when announcing the public health emergency.
“People are not going to catch mpox by being on the same bus or running into someone at the grocery store.”
“On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.”
Is mpox the next COVID?
While health officials have expressed concern about the spread of a new strain of the potentially deadly virus, the consensus is that mpox is not likely to become a pandemic like COVID — primarily because it doesn’t spread in the same way.
“Certainly not,” said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, during a conversation with Fox News Digital.
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“What made COVID so contagious is that it is a respiratory virus spread by aerosols, so that even casual contact — being in the same room with someone for a reasonable period of time — meant you could catch [the virus]” from that person.
Another difference is that COVID is contagious starting from a day or so before someone develops symptoms, Kuritzkes pointed out.
Symptoms of mpox include a sometimes painful rash on various parts of the body, fever, chills, exhaustion, muscle aches, headache, swollen lymph nodes and respiratory symptoms. (iStock)
“By contrast, mpox requires close contact (skin-to-skin) for transmission in the vast majority of cases,” he said.
“Rarely, heavily contaminated material such as bedding can be infectious, but people are not going to catch mpox by being on the same bus or running into someone at the grocery store.”
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While mpox is far less contagious than COVID, it could potentially cause a “widely distributed epidemic” through sexual contact, according to Kuritzkes.
“HIV is now pandemic (found in all countries across the globe), but as high as the numbers are, it is not transmitted by casual contact,” he said. “The same is true of mpox.”
To prevent transmission of mpox, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccination for men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with men, are age 18 or older, and have other specific risks. (PASCAL GUYOT/AFP via Getty Images)
Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, echoed that mpox is “not the new COVID.”
“It spreads via direct contact or sex, and kissing, and very close respiratory droplets, but not over longer distances by respiratory spread,” he told Fox News Digital.
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“Clade 1 is currently in DRC and neighboring African countries,” Siegel said.
“The U.S. has increased surveillance, including wastewater analysis, but there have been no cases [of Clade 1] found here yet.”
This undated image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in a laboratory at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (NIAID via AP, File)
Dr. Brad Perkins, chief medical officer at Karius, a California life sciences company focused on saving lives from infectious diseases, reiterated that mpox is “considerably less infectious” for person-to-person spread than COVID-19.
“Mpox is primarily spread from person-to-person, usually through direct contact, including intimate contact — but on average, there are fewer people who become infected as a result of contact with a mpox case compared to COVID-19,” he told Fox News Digital.
Who is most at risk?
“While mpox can affect anyone, data has shown that men who have sex with men are disproportionately impacted, with a notable disease burden among Black and Hispanic men,” Perkins noted.
“This highlights the importance of early recognition and diagnosis, in addition to awareness and targeted vaccination of those who are at highest risk.”
“While mpox can affect anyone, data has shown that men who have sex with men are disproportionately impacted.”
As with other viral infections, those who are immunocompromised or very young are at the greatest risk of severe infection, according to Kuritzkes.
“For mpox, the main concern is for people with HIV who are not currently receiving effective antiretroviral therapy,” he added.
Patients wait outside the consultation room of an mpox treatment center in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Aug. 16, 2024. Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said in a video message that the country “has recorded 15,664 potential cases and 548 deaths since the beginning of the year,” with all 26 provinces affected. (Getty Images)
Even after the infection has cleared, survivors can face long-term effects and complications, Perkins warned.
“Conditions like vision impairment, encephalitis and scarring have been reported,” he told Fox News Digital.
“We need deeper research into characterizing and addressing these long-term sequelae.”
To prevent transmission of mpox, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends vaccination for men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with men, are age 18 or older, and have other specific risks.
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Those risks include new diagnoses of sexually transmitted diseases and a recent history of multiple sex partners, among others.
“Second, and most obviously, would be to avoid close contact with people who have mpox lesions,” said Kuritzkes.
Doctors take samples from a patient at an mpox treatment center in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Aug. 16, 2024. (Getty Images)
“The big issue is getting the vaccine to the people who need it in Central and West Africa to end the current outbreak.”
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has sent 50,000 doses of the JYNNEOS mpox vaccine to DRC, Siegel noted — “but there is still a worldwide shortage of this vaccine, which will prove crucial to stop the spread, especially if the outbreak widens.”
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In addition to the current vaccines and antiviral treatments that are available, Perkins stressed the need for new innovations in mpox diagnostics, therapeutics and preventive measures.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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