The lethality of smallpox is much higher: according to WHO, it was about 30% of cases. In addition, smallpox was more contagious.
Anatoly Altshtein — virologist, MD, chief researcher at the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N. F. MrsMalea, where the Sputnik V vaccine was developed.
Anatoly Altshtein says that the virus does not pose an epidemic threat to humanity. Since the 1970s, when monkeypox was first detected in humans, it has been recorded mainly in rural areas in the tropical rainforest areas of the Congo Basin and West Africa, especially in the Congo, where monkeypox is considered endemic, but in other countries it is not massively spread. As of July 11, more than 9,000 cases of infection have been identified in 59 non-endemic countries and territories.