Monkeypox and Polio: Mo' Viruses, Mo' Problems

Unbiased Science

@unbiasedscipod

Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 644 Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s episode of the pod– we’re going viral (but not in the good way). We tackle two viruses that have been on our radar: monkeypox virus and poliovirus. We start our discussion focused on monkeypox– what it is, how it’s caused, how it’s spread, and clinical signs and symptoms. We provide a status update on the monkeypox update which (we hope) most will find comforting and optimistic. (TL;DR: We aren’t fully out of the weeds, but things appear to be slowing thanks to vaccines and behavioral change.) Next, we talk about polio. We didn’t see this coming, either, but here we are! We discuss why we’re seeing a resurgence of polio (spoiler alert: it has to do with low vaccination rates in pockets of the population). We discuss signs and symptoms, asymptomatic versus symptomatic infection, viral transmission modalities, and different outcomes associated with illness. We take a trip down polio vaccine memory lane (whattup, Jonas Salk!) and the importance of getting vaccinated as recommended. You don’t want to miss this episode! Check us out on Substack and Instagram: www.theunbiasedscipod.substack.com https://www.instagram.com/unbiasedscipod PLEASE NOTE: The discussion and information provided in this podcast are for general educational, scientific, and informational purposes only and are not intended as, and should not be treated as, medical or other professional advice for any particular individual or individuals. Every person and medical issue is different, and diagnosis and treatment requires consideration of specific facts often unique to the individual. As such, the information contained in this podcast should not be used as a substitute for consultation with and/or treatment by a doctor or other medical professional. If you are experiencing any medical issue or have any medical concern, you should consult with a doctor or other medical professional. Further, due to the inherent limitations of a podcast such as this as well as ongoing scientific developments, we do not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information or analysis provided in this podcast, although, of course we always endeavor to provide comprehensive information and analysis. In no event may Unbiased Science or any of the participants in this podcast be held liable to the listener or anyone else for any decision allegedly made or action allegedly taken or not taken allegedly in reliance on the discussion or information in this podcast or for any damages allegedly resulting from such reliance.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:03.6	Welcome to Unbiased Science, where we bring scientific method to the madness.
0:25.8	We are your hosts, Dr. Jessica Steyer and Dr. Andrea Love.
0:29.5	And this week is the second part of a two-part episode series on the state of infectious disease around the world. So if you didn't tune in last
0:39.4	week, we tackled all things COVID-19. And this week, we are going to chat about monkey pox and
0:46.7	polio. I did not think we'd be talking about polio, Andrea, but here we are. Nope.
0:52.9	2020 is the weirdest timeline. Oh my gosh. All right. Well, Andrea, can you just sort of give
0:59.1	a background on monkey pox, the virus that causes monkey pox? Let's just sort of do a very brief
1:04.9	overview. So monkeypox virus, or MPXV, is the virus that causes a disease called monkeypox. It was first identified in
1:13.8	1958 in monkeys, which is why it was named monkeypox. However, non-human or non-primate mammals,
1:22.6	particularly rodents, are actually presumed to be the most common natural reservoir.
1:29.2	Monkeypox virus and monkeypox illness is typically restricted to sub-Saharan Africa,
1:36.0	with pockets of cases emerging every year or so.
1:39.8	The first human case of monkeypox was reported in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
1:47.8	So monkey pox virus is in the pox virus family, which is the same family as smallpox, which is caused by the variole virus, vaccinia virus, cowpox virus, horsepox virus, and others. However, chickenpox is not in this
2:03.7	family, so don't get that confused. They're very different families. Chickenpox is a herpes
2:08.4	virus. It is caused by the varicel zoster virus. So yeah, that's a distinction. Monkeypox virus,
2:15.1	just like these other pox viruses, including smallpox, which is eradicated from the world, is spread by three main methods of close contact.
2:24.9	So typically it's going to be transmitted from an infected animal to a human.
2:29.6	That is typically the most common mode of transmission.
2:32.5	It can also be spread by close physical contact
2:35.9	person to person. That's close contact of any kind, not exclusively something like sexual
	...

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