Tubes labeled “Positive and negative monkeypox virus” can be seen in this illustration taken on May 23, 2022.
Dado Ruvic Reuters
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stepped up its guidelines for monkeypox, urging travelers to take extra precautions, including wearing face masks, as global cases of the virus exceed 1,000.
The CDC raised its signal to level 2 on Monday, encouraging people to “practice enhanced precautions” to stop the epidemic, which has spread to 29 non-endemic countries in the past month. The highest level of warning – level 3 – would warn against minor trips.
While the public health authority said the risk to the general public remained low, heightened concern encouraged people to avoid close contact with sick people, including those with skin or genital lesions, and sick or dead animals. He also urges those who show symptoms of the virus, such as unexplained skin rashes or lesions, to avoid contact with other people and turn to their healthcare provider for guidance.
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by an infection with the monkeypox virus, with symptoms including rash, fever, headache, muscle aches, swelling and back pain.
It is usually endemic to Central and West African countries, but the recent outbreak in North America, Europe and Australia has confused health professionals and raised concerns about its spread in the community.
As of Monday, 1,019 confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported in 29 countries, according to the CDC. The United Kingdom has registered the most cases so far with 302 suspected and confirmed infections. Followed by Spain with 198, Portugal with 153 and Canada with 80.
Health experts are looking for clues as to the source of the epidemic, which has historically been linked to travel from endemic countries. The World Health Organization’s technical director for smallpox said on Wednesday that the virus may have been detected undetected in non-endemic countries for “weeks, months or possibly several years”.
The United States has discovered two strains of monkeypox
Until recently, the current epidemic was thought to stem from a West African strain of the virus that causes less severe disease than other variants and has a 1% mortality rate.
However, the CDC said on Friday that at least two genetically distinct variants of monkeypox are currently circulating in the United States, increasing confusion among health experts. The United States has so far reported a total of 30 cases of the virus.
“While they are similar to each other, their genetic analysis shows that they are not related to each other,” Jennifer McQueston, deputy director of the CDC’s Department of Pathogens and Pathology, said of the two options at a briefing on Friday. .
McQueston said the two strains were likely to result from two different cases where the virus was transmitted from animals to humans in Africa before spreading through human-to-human contact.
Professor Eyal Leshem, a specialist in infectious diseases at Shiba Medical Center in Israel, told CNBC on Monday that the spread of the virus in non-endemic countries is not surprising, given the frequency and ease of international travel and increased human interaction. animals.
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“Diseases that have been locally prevalent can now find their way across countries and continents much more easily,” Leshem said.
“Meanwhile, the interaction between humans and animals has also intensified. Climate change has forced some animals to come into closer contact with humans, you will see more of these types of diseases,” he added.
Although most cases of monkeypox are mild and usually resolve within two to four weeks, the United States said Monday it has 36,000 doses of a suitable vaccine to send to people who have been at high risk for the virus. Some European countries, including the United Kingdom and Spain, have announced similar measures to halt the spread of the disease.
Monkeypox is not considered a sexually transmitted disease, although most cases have so far been spread through sex, especially men who have sex with men, according to the CDC.
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