The eradication of smallpox 40 years ago was the high water part for both the Centers for Disease Control and Word Health Organization.
Not only did the economy-crushing, society-damaging lockdowns, restrictions, and vaccine-pushing fail to eradicate covid, the monkeypox virus (a cousin of the eradicated smallpox pathogen) appears to be here in this country…”indefinitely.”
The monkeypox virus is unlikely to be eliminated from the U.S. in the near future, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week.The CDC, in a technical brief, said the outbreak is slowing as the availability of vaccines has increased, people have become more aware of how to avoid infection, and immunity has likely increased among gay and bisexual men, the group most impacted by the virus.But low-level transmission of the virus could continue indefinitely among men who have sex with other men, according to the report. The CDC said it does not have a projection of how many total people might get infected by the virus.
The news gets even better. While this country’s cases are declining, the CDC has projected scenarios where the numbers could pick up.
The CDC noted that the outbreak could speed up again if the virus spreads widely among the U.S. population through heterosexual networks or close contact that doesn’t involved sex. So far, other countries haven’t found evidence of sustained spread outside of sexual networks of gay and bisexual men.Monkeypox virus cases could also spread faster again if the virus becomes established in an animal population in the U.S., the CDC said. Public health officials aren’t sure which animals in North America are most vulnerable to infection, although the virus has infected other mammals such as primates, hedgehogs, and prairie dogs.
Meanwhile, scientists sound the alarm bells about another pathogen: Mycoplasma genitalium(MG), a little-understood sexually transmitted disease (STD) linked to infertility that could be silently spreading amid a lack of testing and research.
The STD isn’t tracked by health officials, so it could be spreading undetected and possibly causing harm, according to experts.Dr. Irene Stafford, an associate professor of maternal-fetal medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, said on Tuesday during the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) STD Prevention Conference that Mycoplasma genitalium infections were a “real concern.””Why are we not looking into this?” Stafford said, per NBC News.Mycoplasma genitalium has been around since 1981, but FDA-approved testing for it only became available in 2019, and people aren’t routinely screened for it, according to the CDC. This means that we don’t know how widespread it is, who it affects most, or the long term consequences of an infection.
The number of cases has increased 60-fold over the last decade. MG has been spreading because it has been misdiagnosed as chlamydia.
This mistake has allowed the bacteria to quietly grow stronger and spread under the radar.And because it has been treated with the wrong drugs, it is growing resistant to antibiotics.Some strains are already able to evade potent medicines, meaning patients have to take different drugs to clear the infection.Most people who carry MG have no symptoms — but can still pass it onto others.
Unfortunately, we have to assume that MG will now also be with us indefinitely.
I will conclude with this thought.
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