Forbes picks apart CDC moneypox travel alert | Eastern North Carolina Now

What are these so-called enhanced precautions? Well, the CDC lists several things that travels should avoid. One is “Close contact with sick people, including those with skin lesions or genital lesions.” So, if you are in the habit of touching other people’s lesions while you are traveling, stop it. Of course, this is probably something that you should avoid doing at any time, even when you are not traveling and even when there isn’t a monkeypox outbreak.

A second thing that you should avoid while traveling, according to the CDC, is “Contact with dead or live wild animals such as small mammals including rodents (rats, squirrels) and non-human primates (monkeys, apes).” This is presumably direct contact with such animals and doesn’t include texting or messaging via apps like WhatsApp with them, unless, of course, the messages are disturbing. This warning is due to the fact that such animals may carry the virus that causes monkeypox. Again, it’s a good idea to maintain such precautions even when a monkeypox outbreak is not happening and you are not traveling. There won’t be a time when the CDC will say, “OK, go back to having your raves with rodents now.”

The third thing to avoid is “Eating or preparing meat from wild game (bushmeat) or using products derived from wild animals from Africa (creams, lotions, powders)” to quote the CDC website. This means that consuming bushmeat burgers and wild game ganache or smearing yourself with chimpanzee cream, leopard lotion, or pangolin powder would not be a good idea. Once again these are things to avoid in general and not just during such a travel advisory.

The fourth piece of CDC advice is to avoid “Contact with contaminated materials used by sick people (such as clothing, bedding, or materials used in healthcare settings) or that came into contact with infected animals.” This means that you shouldn’t say, “hey, you with the multiple fluid-filled lesions all over your face and body, could I borrow the pillowcase that you are using right now?” This is because those infected with the monkeypox virus can contaminate objects with the virus, which when handled can end up infecting you.

Full article

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2022/05/29/cdc-level-2-travel-alert-due-to-monkeypox-heres-what-this-means/?sh=113ab73321aa