Monkeypox

Scientists are trying to answer questions about the outbreak of a disease not known to spread easily between humans.

The United States reported a case of the rare monkeypox disease in Massachusetts on Wednesday. Here's all you need to know about the virus.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said Wednesday’s case poses no risk to the public. The CDC says monkeypox cases in the United States are rare. The West African clade is less fatal, with deaths occurring in about one percent of infections. Rimoin said monkeypox is generally thought to have a low reproductive number, based on previous outbreaks — meaning rapid spread is believed to be unlikely. Since smallpox vaccines aren't widely given, the immune protection they provide is lacking for billions around the globe. Monkeypox is a rare disease that comes from the same family of viruses as smallpox. Human-to-human transmission is possible but less common, the World Health Organization said. The virus can also spread through contaminated materials. The sudden surge of cases has prompted concern from public health professionals around the world. The virus doesn’t spread easily between people, although human-to-human transmission typically happens through large respiratory droplets. Scientists have identified two forms of the virus: the West African clade and the Congo Basin clade. Early symptoms include fever, muscle aches, chills and fatigue.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is collaborating with Massachusetts health officials on an investigation into a case of monkeypox, ...

The Massachusetts case is the first case reported this year. A second US case was identified later that year, also involving a traveler from Nigeria. It is usually contracted from a rodent or small mammal, and it does not easily spread from one person to another. Symptoms may include a flu-like illness, lymph-node swelling and a rash on the face and body. What we have seen in the United Kingdom, in Spain and in Europe, has been novel and that gives us cause for concern, but, I think appropriately, people should not be afraid of monkeypox right now." However, healthcare providers should be alert to any rash that has features typical of monkeypox.

A man who had traveled to Canada has been diagnosed with the monkeypox virus, a rare and potentially fatal disease, the Massachusetts Department of Public ...

Contact with live and dead animals through hunting and consumption of wild game or bush meat are known risk factors, according to the World Health Organization. The virus does not jump between people but can spread via body fluids, contaminated objects or through respiratory droplets expelled by an infected person. But the new case follows a series of unusual clusters in other countries that have begun to alarm public health officials. Monkeypox infection begins with fever and body aches. Canadian health officials are investigating at least 15 possible cases in Montreal, according to an infectious disease specialist who was familiar with the effort but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. In the past few weeks, Britain has identified nine monkeypox cases.

Boston — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) today confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in an adult male with recent travel ...

Suspected cases may present with early flu-like symptoms and progress to lesions that may begin on one site on the body and spread to other parts. UK health officials report that the most recent cases in the UK are in men who have sex with men. Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that typically begins with flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes and progresses to a rash on the face and body.

A man in Massachusetts marks the first U.S. case of monkeypox identified this year. Officials in the U.K., Spain and Portugal are also investigating new ...

Monkeypox has been infecting people since 1970, and most of the cases have been concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria. The virus belongs to the family of poxviruses, which also includes smallpox. In Africa, around 1 in 10 people who contract monkeypox die, according to the CDC. Because of its symptoms, monkeypox can sometimes get confused with chickenpox, syphilis or herpes. Patients often develop a rash within one to three days of the fever — usually on their face first, then on other parts of the body, including genitalia. The first of those, reported May 7, was a man who had recently traveled to Nigeria. Portugal, meanwhile, has confirmed five new monkeypox cases and is investigating more than 20 total. Monkeypox is not easily passed from person to person, but there are several ways it can spread.

A Massachusetts resident has tested positive for monkeypox, health officials confirmed Wednesday, making it the first case of the rare virus detected in the ...

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus. "DPH is working closely with the CDC, relevant local boards of health, and the patient’s health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious." The CDC said humans can also be infected when hunting wild animals or preparing bush meat for consumption. In July 2021, a case was confirmed in a Texas resident who had recently returned from Nigeria and in November 2021, another case was found in a Maryland resident who had also traveled to Nigeria. In 2003, 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported in six U.S. states, the first human cases reported outside of Africa. "The case poses no risk to the public, and the individual is hospitalized and in good condition," MDPH stated in a press release.

It's a virus that is mainly spread by wild animals in parts of west and central Africa, according to the WHO — but human-to-human transmission can also occur, ...

Preston added: “Monkeypox is not recognized as a sexually transmitted disease — that is, something that’s hugely dependent on being spread through sexual contact. “That’s the worrying thing — the epidemiology would suggest there are other unrecognized cases at the moment. “As a whole, we shouldn’t be panicking — this is not a disease that spreads like COVID-19 within the general population,” Mabbott told Fortune. “Monkeypox isn’t very transmissible in humans. “That would suggest there are other contacts forming the connections between those cases,” he explained. “It’s still somewhat of a mystery as to how this is spreading. The West African variety – the strain currently circulating in Europe and the U.S. – has a recorded fatality rate of around 1%, while the Central African strain’s recorded fatality rate is around 10%. He added that it was concerning to see that some of the cases identified in the U.K. had no links to one another. The cases identified in the U.K. have all been the West African strain of the virus, which is thought to be milder than the Central African strain. Two cases of the virus were identified in London a week after the first case was reported — but authorities said the individuals had no connection to the previously confirmed case, and “where and how they acquired their infection remains under investigation.” It’s a virus that is mainly spread by wild animals in parts of west and central Africa, according to the WHO — but human-to-human transmission can also occur, and it is occasionally exported to other parts of the world when an infected person travels. Canada is investigating 13 suspected cases of the disease, with the U.S. patient reported to have recently traveled to the country. The first case associated with the current outbreak was reported in the U.K. on May 7 in a person who had recently traveled to Nigeria, where they are believed to have contracted the disease.

“We are particularly urging men who are gay and bisexual to be aware of any unusual rashes or lesions and to contact a sexual health service without delay if ...

The disease can also be transmitted by touching monkeypox skin blisters or scabs, or getting too close to coughs and sneezes from an infected person. Patients will usually need to stay in a specialist hospital so infection doesn’t spread and general symptoms can be treated. The rash is sometimes confused with chickenpox, because it starts as raised spots which turn into small scabs filled with fluid. But it is possible to spread the disease through touching clothing, bedding, or towels used by someone with the rash. It’s thought to be spread by rodents, such as rats, mice, and squirrels. Monkeypox can be caught from a bite by an infected animal, or by touching its blood, body fluids or fur.

People exposed to the virus are often given one of several smallpox vaccines, which have been shown to be effective against monkeypox. Anti-viral drugs are also ...

The World Health Organization estimates there are thousands of monkeypox infections in about a dozen African countries every year. The incubation period is from about five days to three weeks. Most human cases have been in central and west Africa, where the disease is endemic. The illness was first identified by scientists in 1958 when there were two outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in research monkeys — thus the name monkeypox. Most patients only experience fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. It's a surprising outbreak of disease that rarely appears outside Africa.

European and American health authorities have identified a number of cases of monkeypox this week, a surprising outbreak of an illness that has previously ...

The World Health Organization estimates there are thousands of monkeypox infections in about a dozen African countries every year. The infections in Portugal were picked up at a sexual health clinic, where the men sought help for lesions on their genitals. Most human cases have been in central and west Africa, where the disease is endemic. The illness was first identified by scientists in 1958 when there were two outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in research monkeys — thus the name monkeypox. The incubation period is from about five days to three weeks. It's a surprising outbreak of disease that rarely appears outside Africa.

WEDNESDAY, May 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) — After four new cases of typically rare monkeypox infection were spotted in Britain earlier this week, ...

Health officials need to learn more about how monkeypox spreads in general, even in the countries where it is endemic, Fall told the AP. Earlier this week, British health authorities confirmed four cases of monkeypox in England among gay and bisexual men, and Spain’s Health Ministry also announced eight suspected cases of monkeypox that still needed to be confirmed. The disease, which is usually not lethal, is typically limited to Africa, but there have been recent cases reported in Europe.

The announcement raises the possibility that the first monkeypox infection found in the United States is connected to the Canadian cases.

The cases diagnosed in Europe have been caused by the West African clade of the virus, which is typically less dangerous than the Congo Basin clade. In Africa, monkeypox has been fatal in about 1 in 10 cases, with severe disease and death more likely among children, young adults, and people with compromised immune systems, though the ECDC said in its report that the case fatality rate for the West African clade has been 3.6%. One possible explanation for why so many cases in the current outbreak have been identified at STI clinics is that people have turned up with “a preponderance of lesions in the genital area,” the ECDC wrote. Health authorities have stressed cases are likely not limited to this population, both to try to avoid stigmatization, and to ensure that clinicians remain on the lookout for infections in other groups of people. The health officials in Montreal said the suspected cases there have included painful lesions in the mouth and on the penis. It’s also not clear, for example, if the U.S. case is related to the cases in Europe. Genomic sequencing can help answer that question.

The virus behind monkeypox is a close relative of the one that caused smallpox but is less deadly and less transmissible, causing symptoms that include fever ...

The oft-cited fatality rate of about 10 percent applies to a strain that infected people in the Congo Basin. The West African strain, which several of the current cases have been linked to, has a fatality rate closer to 1 percent—and that’s in poor, rural populations. And as another bioterrorism precaution, stockpiles of three smallpox vaccines are large enough “to vaccinate basically everyone in the U.S.” Inglesby said. It’s urgent to identify people early, get them treatment, and identify contacts.” It helps that one common symptom is an obvious rash, which looks like an extreme version of chickenpox. As for the U.S., “there are currently no additional suspected cases” beyond the individual in Massachusetts, McCollum told me. Are they the work of a new and more transmissible strain of monkeypox? A 2012 study suggested that the virus can persist in aerosols for several days—but that was under artificial laboratory conditions, and persistence is just one small part of the infection process. For decades, a few scientists have voiced concerns that the monkeypox virus could have become better at infecting people—ironically because we eradicated its relative, smallpox, in the late 1970s. “I’ve seen a lot of people writing as if everything we know about monkeypox is definitive and finalized, but the reality is that it is still a rare zoonotic infection,” she said. “I don’t think people should be freaking out at this stage,” Carl Bergstrom of the University of Washington told me, “but I don’t trust my own gut feelings anymore, because I’m so sick of all this shit that I tend to be optimistic.” Then again, Marr is less certain about monkeypox than she was about COVID. And Titanji notes that our knowledge of monkeypox is based on just 1,500 or so recorded cases, as of 2018. Rarely, monkeypox makes it to other continents, and when it does, outbreaks “are so small, they’re measured in single digits,” Thomas Inglesby, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told me. This suggests that the monkeypox virus may be surreptitiously spreading from person to person, with some number of undetected cases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday confirmed a rare case of monkeypox in Massachusetts.

STAT had many questions about monkeypox. Fortunately, Andrea McCollum, an expert at the CDC, had many answers.

It depends on the person and it depends on the extent of the rash. If a patient’s been in bed, then the lesions have exudate and pus and that gets on the bed linens and the virus is in that material. A number of the cases are in men who have sex with men, which raises the question of sexual transmission. But at this point, everything we’re hearing and seeing is consistent with what we know about monkeypox, which is that it requires close contact. We do know that lesions themselves, including the ones that present on the surface of the skin, they’re loaded with virus. It’s only during that healing phase [with monkeypox] when there’s crusting and the skin is regenerating a bit, patients mention itching. But I will remind you that you can have an R-naught of less than one and the agent can still be transmitted person to person. I don’t think we have a really good handle on whether most of it is respiratory or skin-to-skin. We don’t have really good contemporary estimates of R-naught. [R-naught is the figure that estimates how many people an infected person, on average, will infect.] We don’t really have any estimates of R-naught for the West African clade. So far it seems that the cases are being caused by viruses from the West African clade, which triggers milder disease than the other family of viruses, called the Congo Basin clade. Monkeypox causes a flu-like array of symptoms, but also comes with a distinctive rash; one telltale sign is the fact that lesions often appear on the palms of hands. At this point, the cases are mainly being detected by clinics that treat sexually transmitted diseases and are being seen in men who have sex with men.