How dangerous is mpox?

Debunking mpox myths and how to keep safe

- DR. EDSEL MAURICE T. SALVANA

Shortly after another Covid-19 scare, fake news posts emerged about an impending lockdown due to mpox.

Mpox is the disease that used to be called monkeypox. There are many reasons for the name change, including decreasing misconceptions regarding the origins of the virus, fighting the stigma attached to the disease, and making it easier to spell in different languages. While monkeys can be infected and were the first animal hosts described by scientists, other animals can carry and transmit the infection. Some outbreaks have been linked to rodents, and the current outbreak is being driven by person-to-person transmission.

Confusingly, the virus itself is still called the monkeypox virus. There are two major clades of the virus: the deadlier clade I and the less deadly clade II. Clade I is endemic to Central Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo, while clade II is endemic to West Africa. In 2022, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) was declared due to clade II. This specific clade II virus was eventually classified as a subclade (clade IIb) due to genetic differences from the original clade II (now called Clade IIa). Aside from the usual route of infection due to close contact and zoonotic transmission, clade IIb was also found to be sexually transmitted and caused a significant number of cases in the men who have sex with men population, especially in Europe and the US. Using a combination of targeted vaccination strategies and aggressive case finding, the PHEIC was declared over in 2023. Clade IIb, however, continued to circulate and became endemic in many countries, including the Philippines. Low-level community circulation has continued ever since, and cases are diagnosed sporadically, especially during times of heightened surveillance.