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U.S. health experts said Friday that the current cases of monkeypox do not necessarily show the usual symptoms, making the disease more difficult to diagnose.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stressed that case identification is crucial to curbing the spread of the disease.
“We’ve seen light and sometimes limited areas of monkeypox, which differs from the classic performance seen in endemic countries in West Central Africa,” said Rochelle Valenski, head of the CDC.
“This has raised concerns that some cases may remain unrecognized or undiagnosed,” she added, calling for increased vigilance among members of the medical profession and the general public.
Current cases do not always show flu-like symptoms, such as fever, body aches, and swollen glands, which usually precede the onset of a disease-specific rash.
In addition, while these rashes usually appear all over the body, many current cases are limited to certain areas.
“It’s important to know that cases of monkeypox can be similar to some sexually transmitted infections, such as herpes, and can be mistaken for other diagnoses,” Valenski said.
The United States has already registered 45 cases, she added, twice as many as last week. There are no reports of deaths.
As of June 9, about 1,300 cases had been identified worldwide, she said.
The transmission requires close and prolonged contact between two people. The United States relies in particular on contact vaccination to stop the epidemic.
The country has 100 million doses of the ACAM2000 vaccine, but is in the process of receiving doses of another more modern vaccine, Jynneos, she said.
At the end of May, the United States had only 1,000 doses of the newer drug, up from 72,000 today, Dawn O’Connell of the Department of Health said Friday.
Another 300,000 doses are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, she added.
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© 2022 AFP
Cite: US health experts say monkeypox cases are more difficult to detect (2022, June 11), extracted on June 11, 2022 from
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