#more deadly

(via Right-wing extremist violence is more frequent and more deadly than left-wing violence − what the data shows)

"It's just a matter of time, if nothing is done, that the transmission crosses the border in the African region and, again, globally," says Dr. Jean Nachega, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh. Nachega is one of a number of public health experts expressing alarm over a major outbreak of mpox – formerly called monkeypox – in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They say the current situation represents a triple threat. First, the DRC is seeing record numbers. About 400 suspect cases are reported each week – the majority in children. Second, the strain of the virus that's circulating is especially deadly, with up to 1 in every 10 people who get the virus dying. And third, the virus is behaving differently. Scientists say it is not only surfacing in new areas and new populations (including sex workers), but it's also spreading in new ways – including sexually – and evading diagnostic tests. Together these issues have made it more urgent – and also more complicated – for the global health community to respond, say mpox specialists. "For measles, we know what to do. For cholera, we know what to do. For polio, we know what to do. These are things that have been around for a long time. For mpox, a lot of the elements are new," says Dr. Rosamund Lewis, the World Health Organization's technical lead and emergency manager for mpox. "And we don't yet have all the countermeasures in place that we need in place."

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Well, you do know what to do. There's an mpox vaccine already. It probably needs to be reformulated, but that should be easy enough considering it's the same virus with some variations. The smallpox vaccine can also be used. It reduces the risk of catching the disease, but is not perfect.