More than 100 cases of the monkeypox virus have been detected across Europe, the Americas and Australia — the largest outbreak outside of Africa in more than 50 years.
Australia has one confirmed and one probable case, one in Victoria and one in NSW, in people who have recently returned from abroad.
Belgium is the first country to introduce a mandatory 21-day quarantine for those infected with the virus, and the US plans to release doses of the smallpox vaccine to stop the spread.
This is happening as Australia also deals with high COVID-19 cases and deaths — 5600 people have died from COVID this year.
With the world opening back up and climate change affecting where diseases thrive, emerging viruses aren’t going anywhere any time soon. Is Australia doing enough to address them?
Is monkeypox cause for alarm?
Monkeypox isn’t as terrifying as it sounds: recent cases have been spread by unprotected sex and the disease is spread only through close contact with lesions, body fluids, large respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding. It doesn’t spread via aerosol droplets like COVID and there have been ongoing cases in Central and West Africa with a mortality rate of between 1% and 11% for those who haven’t received a smallpox vaccination.
However, ANU poxvirus and infectious disease expert Professor David Tscharke said why monkeypox has appeared outside Africa is still not known.
“The fundamental question that people are grappling with is, why is that happening now? Has the virus changed in some way? Did the virus just get lucky? Or has human behaviour changed in some way?” he said.
If the virus had mutated, that would be a major concern — but so far there’s no evidence of that, with transmission rates so far occurring as expected.
“Until we know the answers to those questions, it’s a little hard to really get a handle on the risk,” Tscharke said.
The virus is zoonotic, meaning it spreads from animals to humans. If it spreads to a rat or pigeon population in Europe, outbreaks are likely to become more common, and stamping it out isn’t so simple. Although the smallpox vaccine would work against it, it has nasty side effects, Tscharke said, and a modified version would probably need to be developed.
What about COVID?
As Western Australia opens up — the last state to do so — COVID infection rates have reached record highs. Fourth doses of the COVID vaccine are being considered; the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation meets tomorrow to discuss expanding vaccine eligibility to immunocompromised people. Nearly a third of all Australians have not had their booster dose.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would prioritise COVID during the first week of his leadership, directing the Health Department to prepare a briefing. He also hasn’t ruled out a return to restrictions, calling for the need for a “step-up” in Australia’s national strategy that looks at both the number of deaths and the number of people in hospital.
Where is Australia lagging?
States have started opening purpose-built quarantine facilities funded by state governments with some contribution by the Morrison government. Hubs in Victoria and Queensland each have space for 500 people, housing unvaccinated travellers — although just a handful have stayed in them since they’ve opened.
But quarantine facilities aren’t enough, Tscharke said: “Australia’s research infrastructure is really lagging at the moment. We have great expertise, but there’s not much of it and it’s very poorly funded.”
He said as climate change caused viruses to move around, spreading to regions that previously didn’t have temperatures or rainfall levels for them to thrive, and as human populations migrated, there would be an increased emergence of infectious diseases.
The COVID deaths, he said, were particularly worrying — if a terrorist was killing as many Australians as COVID, action could be taken. “We treat disease and infection in a very different way in our society and I think we could do more to be prepared.”
