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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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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