Monkeypox will soon be like other venereal diseases, says virologist
A top Thai virologist reckons that monkeypox is far too difficult to control or eliminate, and will soon become an endemic disease.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Dr Yong Poovorawan, chief of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University, pointed out that monkeypox is spread through sexual contact.
“Any disease that is spread via intimate touch is difficult to control or be eliminated. Venereal diseases have existed for hundreds of years. We have good medicine to treat them, but we cannot eliminate them,” Yong said in his post.
“Likewise, monkeypox will be difficult to control or eliminate. Unless we develop vaccines that provide immunity against all variants, which will cost a lot, we will just have to live with this disease.”
Yong said that since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared monkeypox a global health emergency on Saturday, all countries should join hands to control and reduce the infection rate.
On Sunday, Thailand responded by upgrading its monkeypox alert to the national level after the public health minister called an emergency meeting with health agencies.
Yong said so far over 16,000 people in some 75 countries have been infected and five have reportedly died, though the WHO has not yet confirmed monkeypox-related fatalities. However, he said, monkeypox is normally not that severe and the fatality rate is as low as 3 in 10,000.
