FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – As monkeypox cases continue to rise globally, one Fond du Lac County health official explains the differences between monkeypox and COVID-19.
There are now a total of 18 confirmed monkeypox cases in Wisconsin. In our area, Menasha and Appleton have both reported cases.
Contrary to recent popular belief, Fond du Lac County’s Health Officer Kim Mueller says monkeypox is not an STD.
“If you’re a living human being, you can experience or get monkeypox,” said Mueller. “Now, typically, in this outbreak that we’re currently experiencing, it’s happening in a population — gay, bisexual, men sleeping with men, people that have more sexual partners, but it is not a sexually transmitted disease.”
Fond du Lac County does not have any known cases of monkeypox and, while it’s a virus anyone can contract, it’s quite different from COVID-19.
“You almost need to know that this person that you’re in contact with, they know they have symptoms. That is when they’re infectious,” explained Mueller. “It’s not like COVID, how it was the two days prior to the onset of symptoms. Monkeypox is not like that — you’re only infectious when you actually have those symptoms.”
The most notable difference between COVID and monkeypox is the way it is transmitted.
With COVID-19, exposure for 15 minutes or more with an infected person can pass on the virus, but monkeypox works quite differently.
“If an individual hasn’t had that physical contact with somebody who is infectious, but they were in a room with them, unmasked for three hours or more, that would be something else that we would want to know and potential for getting vaccinated,” said Mueller.
A few symptoms to look out for when it comes to monkeypox are a full body rash, feeling unwell, overall and having swollen lymph nodes.
On Thursday, state health officials announced Wisconsin has enough monkeypox vaccines for 743 people to complete the two-dose series.
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