Can you be infected with monkey pox and Covid-19 at the same time?

More than 20 countries have reported cases of monkeypox, leaving people worried about getting infected, especially amid the ongoing Covid-19 scare. But can a person get infected the two viruses at the same time? Since there are no cases reported at present, there is no need to panic, say experts, adding that the chances are low considering monkeypox doesn’t spread as much as Covid-19. They also say the scientific community is familiar with how monkeypox is transmitted, and also how it can be contained — giving health authorities a comfortable head-start.
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“The risk to the general public, therefore, appears to be low. From what we know of this virus and its modes of transmission, the outbreak can still be contained. As such, it is the objective of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Member States to contain this outbreak and to stop it,” said Dr Rosamund Lewis, head of the smallpox team, which is part of the WHO Emergencies Programme.
Can they co-ex?
Dr Sulaiman Ladhani, consulting chest physician, MD chest and tuberculosis, Masina Hospital, Mumbai is of the opinion that they can definitely coex but both are “two different viral infections“. “Normally, monkeypox fatalities range between one and 10 per cent, but the presence of Covid-19 may increase fatalities because it can make you more immunocompromised and make things more difficult. itself, Covid-19 is quite a devastating disease, and if they both coex, the symptoms may turn out to be similar, but the diagnosis will become very difficult,” he said.
Notably, Covid-19, according to the WHO, is an infectious disease caused the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread through an infected person’s mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, and sing or breathe. Monkeypox, on the other hand, is a viral zoonotic disease, originally transmitted from animals, that can later be transmitted from one person to another close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets, and contaminated materials such as bedding.

The classic symptom in the case of monkeypox is a rash. The incubation period (interval from infection to onset of symptoms) of monkeypox is usually from 6 to 13 days but can range from 5 to 21 days, WHO states. According to the United Nations agency, monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with symptoms lasting from two-four weeks. Severe cases occur more commonly among children and are related to the extent of virus exposure, patient health status, and nature of complications. One may rarely get infected with Covid-19 and monkeypox virus as the former spreads quickly and easily simply talking with an infected person. “Mortality rate is less than two per cent in monkeypox cases,” asserted Dr Rupkatha Sen, chief intensiv, SRV Hospitals, Chembur.
Diagnosis and treatment
While Covid-19 is effectively diagnosed with a RTPCR test, monkeypox is detected hopathological diagnosis microscopy. “Treatment, if at all, with both co-exing, may be a little challenging in the case of the immuno-compromised, elderly patients,” said Dr Ladhani.
Rather than Covid-19, according to WHO, the clinical presentation of monkeypox resembles that of smallpox, a related orthopoxvirus infection which has been eradicated. Smallpox was more easily transmitted and more often fatal as about 30 per cent of patients died. The global health body mentions that the last case of naturally acquired smallpox occurred in 1977, and in 1980 smallpox was declared to have been eradicated worldwide after a global campaign of vaccination and containment.
“It has been 40 or more years since all countries ceased routine smallpox vaccination with vaccinia-based vaccines. As vaccination also protected against monkeypox in West and central Africa, unvaccinated populations are now also more susceptible to monkeypox virus infection,” it reads.

Prevention
According to Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), preventive measures for monkeypox are avoid contact with animals that could harbour the virus (including animals that are sick or that have been found dead in areas where monkeypox occurs); avoid contact with any materials, such as bedding, that has been in contact with a sick animal; isolate infected patients from others who could be at risk for infection, practice good hand hygiene after contact with infected animals or humans, and use personal protective equipment (PPE) when caring for patients.
Even as masks are not mandatory, it is important to practice hand hygiene, and get vaccinated, experts urge to slow the spread of Covid-19.
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