After years of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials have identified a probable monkeypox case in Ohio.
The two infectious diseases are being compared by some, but they are not in the same league when it comes to transmissibility, said Dr. Frank Esper, Cleveland Clinic pediatric infectious disease specialist.
"With coronavirus, one good cough in a well-enclosed room, you could spread that virus to several other people in that room," said Dr. Esper, "Whereas monkeypox really requires prolonged, close contact with someone who鈥檚 not just infected but actually showing symptoms of that infection.鈥�
It is a slow-spreading disease, and there haven鈥檛 been any deaths, so Ohio is not on the brink of seeing another worldwide pandemic, Dr. Esper said.
鈥淭hese types of global outbreaks may be something that we鈥檙e going to be recognizing because borders and travel have allowed germs to travel much more freely," Esper said.
It鈥檚 possible we may see more random outbreaks of diseases in regions where they aren鈥檛 typically seen, he said.
Copyright 2022 WKSU. To see more, visit .
