Monkeypox Isn’t Like COVID: Why It’s Not A ‘Global Threat’ Like The Coronavirus

While more probable cases of monkeypox have been identified in several countries across the world, health experts are advising that the virus does not pose the same type of global threat as COVID-19.

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations CEO Richard Hatchett told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, “This is a concerning epidemic. Monkeypox is a very different disease than COVID.

“It does not spread through respiratory transmission in the same way, so it does not present the kind of global threat that many of us immediately recognized that COVID presented. But it does exemplify the risk that infectious diseases present in the modern world.”

Health experts, such as Northwell Health Internist Dr. Frank Contacessa, told Fox News’ “Varney & Co.” that monkeypox isn’t the same kind of virus as COVID-19 based on its transmission.

“COVID is enormously transmissible just being near somebody who is carrying the virus...you can contract it, and we have asymptomatic spread with COVID...Monkeypox is not that way,” he said.

Monkeypox can be spread through broken skin, bodily fluids, close skin contact, and contaminated bedding, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“There [are] some respiratory droplets spread, but it's not the primary mode of transmission with this virus,” Contacessa told “Varney & Co.”

Still, experts remain concerned over the spread of monkeypox, which has until now has, for the most part, been confined to the remote parts of Central and West Africa.

The viral disease has now made its way to at least 12 countries, with the first confirmed case in the U.S. reported in Massachusetts. Likely monkeypox cases have also been identified in California, Washington, Utah, Florida, and New York.

In total, 118 monkeypox cases have been reported as of Wednesday in the European Union and the European Economic Area, according to the European Centre for Disease and Prevention Control. In comparison, COVID-19 has seen more than 527.4 million cases reported globally, to date, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headaches, muscle ache, and swelling, followed by lesions that develop one to three days later on the face and other parts of the body, including the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, according to the CDC.