Can you catch monkey pox from a toilet seat or trying on clothes at a thrift store? Does the virus spread through body fluids? Can you pass it on to your pets?
Search for “monkeypox” on social media, and these are the types of questions you’ll find online.
Several months after an unprecedented smallpox outbreak, platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok are awash with sensationalized posts about how this virus can be transmitted, fueling potential fears that people can catch it in their day-to-day lives. although the data overwhelmingly points to it. to sexual contact between men as the main driver of global transmission.
An analysis of monkeypox-related posts on Twitter, which was published in June as a letter to the editor in the Journal of Infection in Developing Countries, more than half of the publications were found to contain incorrect information or unverifiable details.
“There’s a big difference between what’s possible, what’s likely, and what’s actually happening,” said Len Tooley, director of evaluation at the Center for Community-Based Research, a queer health policy organization and one of the first people. to catch the monkey pox in Toronto.
“What we see happening in reality is that it’s mostly gay and bisexual men who get monkey pox. Most of them have it sexually … so if you don’t fit into one of those two categories, you probably don’t you have too much. worry about.”
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While there are still key unanswered questions about the exact ways this virus spreads between hosts, the data show most infections remain among men who have sex with men – Which makes it crucial, scientists say, to prioritize vaccines and limit support to gay, bisexual and transgender people who are most at risk of contracting what is often a painful, week-long illness.
“We know that sexual transmission in men who have sex with men is an important mechanism of spread and is contributing significantly to the ongoing outbreak,” said physician and researcher Dr. Boghuma Titanji, assistant professor at Emory University in Atlanta. “That said, it’s not the only method of transmission.”
So here’s what global researchers know, and don’t know, about how this virus is transmitted.
How much is monkey pox transmitted through sex?
Before this year’s global outbreak, scientists typically thought that the monkeypox virus, or MPXV, reached humans primarily through contact with infected animals, causing domestic transmission and outbreaks limited to regions of the ‘West and Central Africa where this pathogen is endemic.
But Titanji said there were signs that MPXV was also spreading through sex networks Nigerian scientists sounded the alarm during a nationwide outbreak in 2017 which largely affected sexually active young men, often causing genital lesions.
“So it’s possible that monkeypox also spread through sexual contact and went under the radar, and found itself in very densely connected sexual networks that allowed it to amplify,” Titanji said. .
In Canada, the disease is especially among men who have sex with menand 99 percent of infected people identify as male, with an average age of 36.
Among US monkeypox cases with available data99 percent also occurred in men, including 94 percent who reported recent male-to-male sexual or intimate contact.
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Broad European data also suggest that cases remain mainly among men who have sex with men aged 18-50. According to the latest risk assessment of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Controlthe likelihood of MPXV spreading further in the networks of people with multiple sexual partners is “considered high”, while the possibility of it spreading to the wider population is “assessed very low”.
Understanding these patterns of transmission is key to knowing where to direct limited supplies, including vaccines, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Infectious Diseases and Vaccines Organization.
“It makes the most sense to distribute this vaccine to the people who are at the highest risk,” he said. “People who are men who have sex with men, people who have had multiple partners, people who have recently had sex.”
So does it only spread through skin contact? Or body fluids?
When it comes to transmission through sex, what is less clear is whether it is primarily linked to skin-to-skin contact or whether bodily fluids also play a role.
“One of the unknowns is to what extent, and for how long, this can be transmitted through semen,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist based in Toronto.
As Public Health Ontario noted in an August evidence summarythere is still no clear evidence of genital secretions as a “different route of transmission” along with direct intimate contact.
Several recent case studies analyzing human semen during active infections reported finding monkeypox DNA, which has also been identified in other body fluids.
Other research suggests that people can carry the virus without showing any obvious symptoms, such as telltale body or genital lesions. A recent study conducted in France, found that 13 out of 200 individuals tested positive for MPXV at the time of an anal swab performed to find other potential infections, even though they were asymptomatic.
“Whether this indicates viral shedding that may lead to transmission is unknown,” the researchers wrote.
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Can this virus be caught from surfaces, bedding or clothing?
Monkey pox has a knack for sticking to contaminated items, such as an infected person’s clothing or bedding. But that doesn’t necessarily mean someone will catch it.
In one study, researchers found live viruses 15 days after a patient’s home was vacated, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted in mid-July.
Studies also show that other closely related viruses can survive in a household-like environment for weeks or months, the CDC statement continued, with porous objects, such as bedding and clothing, harboring live viruses for periods longer than non-porous surfaces, such as glass or metal.
Thus, theoretically, this virus can be transmitted by touching various objects, or by close, non-sexual contact.
There are specific examples of domestic transmission to children and possibly pets, including a case study in France where two men who caught MPXV may have passed it on to their dog, who was sleeping in their bed.
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But if this virus spread easily through surface transmission, “we would have seen a much larger outbreak years ago,” Bogoch said.
“I think it’s completely overkill that we have to worry about touching an inanimate object, like a doorknob going into a place, or a scooter, or washing every item we get from the grocery store,” he said. . “I think it’s clearly premature.”
Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist at McMaster University in Hamilton, agreed that the global data on cases during this monkeypox outbreak show that infections usually don’t just “pop out of the blue.”
“And the few that are, they don’t really lead to sustained transmission,” he said.
Still, Chagla said there’s merit in taking certain precautions, primarily in healthcare settings and homes where a family member has an active infection.
If someone in a household has monkey pox, suggests the CDC clean and disinfect the entire space, and put all contaminated clothes and linens in the laundry, and if the person doing this work is not the one who is infected, should at least wear disposable medical gloves and a breather or respirator. fitted mask
What about over the air transmission?
Like many other common viruses, including those that cause the flu and COVID-19, MPXV can spread through the air and infect other people, although many scientists still don’t see evidence that it’s a major route of transmission.
“You can still get transmission through droplets and aerosols,” Titanji said, referring to larger and smaller sizes of particles that people can breathe or inhale.
“But the last two modes of transmission I just listed seem to be less common than the predominant mode of sexual transmission.”
The World Health Organization maintains that transmission by respiratory particles “typically requires prolonged face-to-face contact,” which puts healthcare workers, household members and other close contacts of active cases at greater risk of becoming infected.
“If people got monkey pox … by inhaling it and breathing it in, we would see a lot of people who are not men having sex with men getting monkey pox,” Rasmussen said.
As for the misinformation circulating online, implying that the general public can easily catch this virus, Tooley said some of it may come from a place of stigma or simply fear.
“I hope that all those people who are afraid of…