Monkeypox may be less transmittable than COVID, but the virus is exploding and most folks aren't immune to its effects ... so says, Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding.
The World Health Network Epidemiologist joined "TMZ Live," Monday, to talk about the once-considered extremely rare disease and why it might not be so rare this time around.
Dr. Feigl-Ding tells us, the virus may be less contagious than Covid-19, but we're in the early stages with numbers exploding all over the world.
He says, generally speaking, the big problem is most folks under the age of 50 have no immunity to the virus. On top of that, the incubation period is much longer than other viruses -- starting from 10 days up to 21.
Because of this, many folks can be further along before they realize they may have it ... and could potentially transmit it to more people.
Doc says we have to be careful, because Monkeypox didn't always transmit like this -- maybe a few cases here and there. Now, he hopes reluctant Americans will wake up and realize that wearing a mask might be a bonus to protect against all viruses like COVID and Monkeypox.
BTW, he says some folks still debate whether it is airborne or not, but no matter what, he says it's a huge issue.
As we've reported, the first case was detected in the U.S. earlier this month ... when a health official said, a Massachusetts man tested positive for the virus.