CDC scientists pursue deadly monkeypox virus in Africa | Hacker News Reader

CDC scientists pursue deadly monkeypox virus in Africa

washingtonpost.com

45 pointsartsandsci8 comments

The American Council on Science and Health suggests that we don't worry too much: https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/11/07/dont-freak-out-about-mo...

Not to be morbid, but what is the actual cause of death when this kills you? I wonder if it is difficult sometimes for the public to understand the danger behind a disease because it's difficult for them to bridge the gap between "this is really unpleasant" and "this will kill me".

Monkeypox "Symptoms ... closely resemble those of smallpox, and include a febrile prodrome followed by development of a disseminated vesiculo-pustular rash...patients are vulnerable to secondary bacterial infection, dehydration, encephalitis, bronchopneumonia and blindness due to corneal scarring from lesions."

It's closely related to smallpox, so just hearing that, I would hope that most people will realize that becoming infected could be potentially deadly.

source: Presumptive risk factors for monkeypox in rural communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168664

Pox diseases seem to kill more or less alike, and here is what's known about Smallpox:

In fatal cases of ordinary smallpox, death usually occurs between the tenth and sixteenth days of the illness. The cause of death from smallpox is not clear, but the infection is now known to involve multiple organs. Circulating immune complexes, overwhelming viremia, or an uncontrolled immune response may be contributing factors.[20] In early hemorrhagic smallpox, death occurs suddenly about six days after the fever develops. Cause of death in hemorrhagic cases involved heart failure, sometimes accompanied by pulmonary edema. In late hemorrhagic cases, high and sustained viremia, severe platelet loss and poor immune response were often cited as causes of death.[24] In flat smallpox modes of death are similar to those in burns, with loss of fluid, protein and electrolytes beyond the capacity of the body to replace or acquire, and fulminating sepsis.[48]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox

In particular this caught my attention, ...overwhelming viremia, or an uncontrolled immune response may be contributing factors... What that probably means is at some point the virus amplifies freely in infected tissues, and may precipitate an extreme feedback loop such as a cytokine storm. That would certainly explain the rapid fatalities suffered by the hemorrhagic form.

That mode of death, extreme viral reproduction and immune cascade leading to death is also seen in Hemorrhagic Fevers, and other classically devastating infections.

I usually detest sites that hijack scrolling, but this article does it quite effectively and usefully.

I'm surprised the international community hasn't built a few walls/fences to contain threats like those.

It's likely transmitted by a small mammal, they aren't sure which one.

It's pretty hard to build a rat proof fence, especially across hundreds or thousands of miles, and it is an "outbreak" concern more than anything, it doesn't infect many people:

https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/about.html

The reason they are trying to trace it is that every human infection is an opportunity for an adapted, transmissible virus to emerge.

While it will certainly be hard to contain, there are historical precedents for containing disease outbreaks where small mammals are the vectors. A notable case is the Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, caused by the Machupo virus, where an outbreak in 1966 was largely extinguished after two weeks by extensive trapping of the rodent vector[1]. Of course the effectiveness of trapping depends on many factors, and it is not always feasible. Studies like the ones being conducted by the CDC are essential for understanding these diseases and inform strategies on how to contain them.

If you’re interested in reading about the initial cases of various emerging diseases (or rather, emerging diagnoses), Laurie Garrett‘s book, The Coming Plague, is a good read.

1. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/1/3/95-0308_article

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