The monkeypox virus may have infected more than 700 people worldwide, including 21 in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said.
Although the overall risk to public health remains low at the moment, according to Jennifer McQueston of the CDC, the cases represent a spread at the community level in the United States, CNBC reported.
“There may be a community broadcast going on, so we really want to increase our monitoring efforts,” McQueston told reporters during a conversation Friday.
“We really want to encourage doctors that if they see a rash and worry that it could be monkeypox, they should go ahead and test for it,” she said.
In addition, as in other countries, even the United States appears to be at higher risk for gay and bisexual men. Of the 17 patients who provided detailed demographic information to the CDC, 16 identified themselves as men who had sex with men, McQueston said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified more than 550 monkeypox infections in 30 countries, most of which have been reported in Europe.
The sudden appearance of these cases in many countries shows that the virus has been spreading unnoticed for some time outside African regions, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adanom Gebreyesus at a recent press conference.
According to some scientists, the monkeypox virus may have been circulating quietly for years before its sudden appearance around the world, the report said.
“There may have been an undiscovered transmission for a while,” said Rosamund Lewis, WHO’s technical director for monkeypox, at a briefing. “What we don’t know is how long it may have been. We don’t know if it’s weeks, months or maybe a few years.
However, laboratory sequencing reveals that the virus’s genetic mutations are “limited” and that none of them smoke weapons, said Virology professor Mark Van Ranst of the University of Leuven in Belgium, quoted by NBC News.
Researchers are also concerned about the spread of the virus mainly in men who have sex with men, even if they are not a sexually transmitted disease.
“What is likely to happen is an endemic infectious disease from Africa finding its way into social and sexual networks and then being greatly aided by major intensifying events, such as raves in Belgium to spread around the world,” Amesh said. A. Adalza, a senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, was quoted as saying by CNBC.
“And then, because it is transmitted through close sexual contact, many of the lesions are confused with other sexually transmitted infections, which can delay the diagnosis,” Adalia added.
20220605-124802
Add Comment