ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Health officials across the U.S. have reported at least two potential cases of monkeypox.
Dr. Charles Schleupner, a professor of internal medicine who specializes in infectious diseases at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, spoke to WFXR News about how monkeypox began and how it ended up in the United States.
Schleupner says it dates back to 1958, in a Danish research lab — where scientists were using monkeys for research. During that time two outbreaks of the virus happened in monkeys and the pox-like disease was named “monkeypox.”
Schleupner described monkeypox as small pox-like lesions that appear on the skin.
Monkeypox is considered an endemic disease because it is found in west and central Africa and can be found in rodents, prairie dogs, squirrels, rabbits, monkeys, and apes.
He says researchers have discovered two types of the virus.
“One in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was known as Zaire, and indeed the first human case was recognized in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The other type was in the western part of Africa, Nigeria,” said Schleupner.
Schleupner breaks down the differences between the two strains.
“The one in the western part of Africa has been most of the source in Europe and a few cases in the U.S. It, fortunately, is a more benign form of the virus. Mortality is 1% or less, whereas the strain from the central part of Africa has up to a 10% mortality rate,” said Schleupner.
He says the similarities in both of these strains are through transmission. This virus can be transmitted through broken skin, the respiratory tract, or by touching your eyes, mouth, or nose. Transmission can also be from animal to human through a bite or scratch.
However, in the 1970s, Schleupner told WFXR News that many countries stopped administering the smallpox vaccine, which helped prevent the spread of monkeypox. Then, in 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported smallpox was eliminated and the vaccine was no longer needed.
Another issue Schleupner brought up was war across central and west Africa, which hurt the food supply. This forced people — who were displaced from their homes — to forage for food. They began to feed on animals that were carriers of the virus. This led to people developing skin lesions on their hands and face, and ultimately being diagnosed with the virus — monkeypox.
Schleupner stated that in 2003, the monkeypox virus was introduced into the U.S. through a shipment of animals from Ghana. According to the report, there were 47 confirmed and probable cases of monkeypox across six states in the Midwest. These people reported breaking out in skin lesions after having contact with the animals.
“On July 15, 2021, there was a gentleman who apparently had animal contact in Nigeria, developed the disease, and actually traveled with lesions in an airplane. The CDC estimates that there were over 200 contacts in the same plane,” said Schleupner.
However, that patient recovered, according to Schleupner. After the 21-day monitoring period passed, there were no other additional cases identified.
On Nov. 16, 2021, there was another patient who traveled to Nigeria from Maryland and that person also recovered.
One of the latest cases happened this year on May 18, when a person who returned from Canada developed monkeypox. The Massachusetts Health Department is investigating this latest case. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is also investigating other cases of monkeypox in early-to-mid May across several countries including Europe and the U.S.
Schleupner says researchers need to figure out if the virus is becoming more transmissible, but it is not being classified as an outbreak.
“We’ve had in the last year, three cases in the U.S.,” said Schleupner. “I’m sorry that does not make an outbreak. I mean relative to what we recognized in the past, you can say it is an increase in number. We have 330 million people living in this country. I think it’s a stretch to say it’s an outbreak.”
Schleupner did give advice, saying that people should be cautious about the transmission of the virus from animal to human and human to human. He also stated that people should be aware of the virus has evolved in terms of its transmissibility.
