Unlike COVID-19, poxviruses like the monkeypox virus do not rapidly mutate hence, vaccines effective against the virus already exist as do treatments, and the mortality rate ranges from one to ten percent. Occasional outbreaks in endemic areas typically stem from animal populations such as rodents, presumed to be reservoirs of the monkeypox virus. Currently, cases of monkeypox, a relative of smallpox, are rare outside some parts of West and Central Africa. The emergence of the monkeypox virus in the United States in the past two weeks has stoked fear of a second pandemic and prompted widespread, often fearful news coverage regarding the unfamiliar virus.
