Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Lewis Thomson on 26/05/2022 14:16:23
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Terry wants to know the answer to this question.
"Is it possible that monkey pox, normally countered by our immune systems with little or no symptom, is no longer being controlled by our immune systems because of something 3 or 4 covid vaccinations has done to those systems?"
Discuss your findings in the comments below...
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"Is it possible that monkey pox, normally countered by our immune systems with little or no symptom, is no longer being controlled by our immune systems because of something 3 or 4 covid vaccinations has done to those systems?"
I would say no. The covid vaccine produces an immune response to the covid 19 virus, it has no effect on the overall immune system and does not have any effect on other nonrelated viruses like monkey pox.
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"Is it possible that monkey pox, normally countered by our immune systems with little or no symptom, is no longer being controlled by our immune systems because of something 3 or 4 covid vaccinations has done to those systems?"
No.
There's no plausible mechanism for that.
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Vaccinations don't depress the immune system, they stimulate it. It's just coincidence that this has cropped up. With the current world population and air travel connecting all areas we are going to see a lot more disease problems, principally zoonoses. One could argue that man as an organism, has outgrown his petri dish(the world).
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There is a sense in which a COVID vaccination or flu vaccination could counter other viruses, and it has to do with our innate immune system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innate_immune_system#Viruses).
- When you are presented with a viral threat (which is what a vaccine triggers), your body sends out alert signals including Interferon, which is a non-specific signal to warn our body to prepare for a viral attack. This produces the classic cold/flu symptoms like headache, lethargy, runny nose, etc. This is why many people feel a bit off-color the day after a vaccination.
- If you were exposed to a different virus while you have this elevated interferon levels, you would be slightly protected against the second virus.
- However, this generic innate response gives way over a few days to weeks by a more targeted response with antibodies, which are specific to a particular virus
- Over a period of months to years, the antibody levels decline, but memory cells in your immune system keep watch for this specific virus, ready to ramp up activity if the same (or similar) virus is ever seen again.
So, a few weeks after a COVID vaccination, your immune system is primed for a COVID infection, but it is still on the lookout for other viruses (such as monkeypox or the common cold).
- After all, there have been outbreaks of monkeypox well before COVID-19 (or COVID-19 vaccines) were around.
- However, I would say that the relaxation of travel restrictions/quarantine requirements and limits on the size of parties after COVID has allowed (or even assisted) the rapid spread of monkeypox around the world.
As it happens, monkeypox is well-controlled by the smallpox vaccine, and vaccination is our best protection against viruses.
- Some have suggested that it was the end of smallpox vaccination in Africa which has led to reducing immunity to monkeypox in the African community, and has led to larger outbreaks (including the current one)
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeypox#Prevention
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Interesting, that concept of reduced smallpox immunity. When did smallpox vaccinations cease? I know the who declared victory circa 1980. I received a smallpox vaccine as a kid around 1960 as there was transmission going on at that time but my wife who is six years younger did not. I don't know what level of immunity I would have at this stage but it seems immunity to dna viruses appears more durable than that of rna viruses. I wonder is that due to the proof reading function on dna viruses leading to less chance of variant occurrence?
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The last known case of Smallpox in the wild was in 1977, and routine vaccination ceased around 1986.
- Samples of smallpox are known to be kept in a couple of labs
- Occasionally, unknown samples of smallpox have surfaced as people were clearing out old cupboards...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox
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In general, replication competent ('live') attenuated vaccines boost immunity to most infections other than their target, while other sorts of vaccine tend to do the opposite.
My guess would be that a mutation which makes the monkeypox virus more fit in humans has been around for a long time. In the past, it hasn't been selected for because it didn't have sufficient fitness to set up shop in humans. Now, with enough people unvaccinated against smallpox, the same mutation has sufficient advantage to circulate in people. We might see more mutations - analagous to CoV2's D614G mutation in the near future. I won't be surprised if it keeps spreading until we vaccinate. The surprise is that we didn't see a big outbreak in Lagos before the current outbreak.
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So then, if you catch monkey pox, will you be immune to smallpox? And does monkey pox scar as much as smallpox?
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So then, if you catch monkey pox, will you be immune to smallpox?
It's hard to define immunity to a disease that doesn't exist.