Currently, there are over 200 reported cases of monkeypox spread throughout 21 countries, and for the first time in history, cases are arising outside of a direct connection with West and Central Africa (the home of the virus).
Most of the 118 cases in Europe have been detected in young men, particularly those who identify as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men, the European CDC said.In many of these cases, patients have sought medical care for a rash on or around the genital area, which has suggested that transmission of the virus is happening during close physical contact during sex. Monkeypox isn’t a sexually transmitted infection — meaning that the virus doesn’t transmit through seminal or vaginal fluids — but viral droplets can spread during close contact.Before May, the cases outside of endemic countries were isolated and occurred among people who had recently traveled.“This is the first time that chains of transmission are reported in Europe without known epidemiological links to West or Central Africa, where this disease is endemic,” the European CDC wrote. “These are also the first cases worldwide reported among MSM.”
The cases appear to be mild, and no fatalities have been reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now identified nine cases, which are spread through seven states.
As most of the cases now appear to be connected to gay men, a great emphasis has been placed on not “stigmatizing” infection.
In fact, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky asserts that “the risk of exposure is not limited to any one group.”
Cases have been identified in Massachusetts, Florida, Utah, Washington, California, Virginia and New York.Most of the cases “are within gay [and] bisexual men and other men who have sex with men,” she said. Virginia announced Thursday that the case in its state is a woman.Walensky called for an approach “guided by science, not by stigma.”This is a community that has the strength and has demonstrated the ability to address challenges to their health by focusing on compassion and science,” she said in an apparent reference to the AIDS epidemic.”While some groups may have a greater chance of exposure right now, infectious diseases do not care about state or international borders. They’re not contained within social networks, and the risk of exposure is not limited to any one particular group,” she warned.Walensky implored Americans “to approach this outbreak without stigma and without discrimination.”
Here is a reminder from the CDC’s own website about how monkeypox is actually spread so that people can adequately assess their own risk of exposure.
Human-to-human transmission is thought to occur primarily through large respiratory droplets. Respiratory droplets generally cannot travel more than a few feet, so prolonged face-to-face contact is required. Other human-to-human methods of transmission include direct contact with body fluids or lesion material, and indirect contact with lesion material, such as through contaminated clothing or linen.
Meanwhile, the CDC has issued monkeypox vaccine guidance, applicable to healthcare workers and people who run diagnostic tests.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the CDC’s leading experts on vaccines, issued the recommendation Friday, and it will include lab workers who research orthopoxviruses, people who work in lab testing environments, and health care personnel who are treating infected patients.The JYNNEOS vaccine in question is tailored to both smallpox and monkeypox – just as many other smallpox drugs are also believed to be effective against the rare virus…Certain laboratorians and health care personnel can be exposed to orthopoxviruses through occupational activities,’ ACIP wrote in its report.The panel notes that orthopoxvirus vaccines, like JYNNEOS, were regularly distributed to children in the U.S. to combat smallpox in the past.Smallpox, a highly devastating, deadly, virus, was eradicated in 1980, though, and use of the vaccines has since been dropped from mandatory to scarce.Officials still recommend that some parts of the population do continue to receive the shots, though, including people who may be exposed to these viruses at work.America has a stockpile of over 1,000 doses of the two-dose vaccine in place for a situation like this.
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