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by retrac
1489 days ago
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Big caveat: we don't actually know, because it hasn't been studied, because human monkeypox is very rare. Still, some conjecture: You're very probably immune. Recovery from smallpox almost always meant life-long immunity and re-infection was basically unknown when it was common. The orthopoxviruses are known to have a lot of cross-immunity. People who get cowpox are immune to smallpox, and vice versa. The classic smallpox vaccine used widely in the 20th century was just a very mild strain of pox (genetically somewhere between smallpox and cowpox, and of uncertain origin now lost to history) which causes almost no illness in humans. |
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