Monkeypox

The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. The move is aimed at boosting coordination and sharing ...

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The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the international monkeypox outbreak a global emergency, a decision that underscores concerns about ...

The WHO’s move is not likely to have a direct effect on the U.S. response. On Friday, health authorities reported the first two U.S. cases of monkeypox in children. They also noted scant evidence of substantial transmission beyond men who have sex with men and concerns that a health emergency would fuel discrimination against the LGBT community in countries where homosexuality is criminalized. Experts believe close contact during male-to-male sexual activity is a major driver of transmission in the ongoing outbreak. Monkeypox has spread across the world at an unprecedented rate in the last two months. The decision means the world is now confronting two viral diseases that have crossed the extraordinary threshold of being declared health emergencies: covid-19 and monkeypox.

The rare designation may help spur more investment in combatting the once rare disease amid a scramble for scarce vaccines. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom ...

"Vaccination in the West might help stop the outbreak there, but there will still be cases in Africa," he said. So far, monkeypox deaths have only been reported in Africa, where a more dangerous version of the virus is spreading. However, in Europe, North America and other regions, monkeypox is spreading from human to human without links to animals or travel to Africa. At the time, 3,040 monkeypox cases had been reported in 47 countries, he said. "So in short, we have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little," he said. While a global emergency is the organization's highest alert level, it doesn't always mean a disease is highly transmissible or lethal. There have been 2,891 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the U.S. as of Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. States reporting cases have received 370,000 vaccine doses. As a more dangerous version of the virus spreads mainly in Nigeria and the Congo, the only monkeypox deaths as of now have been reported in Africa, where it mainly spreads to people from infected animals such as rodents. On Friday, the U.S. reported its first two cases of monkeypox in children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the virus has been found in parts of central and west Africa for decades, monkeypox began to spread more widely in May as authorities reported dozens of epidemics globally. "... For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern." The head of the U.N. health agency said Saturday that monkeypox is a global emergency after the World Health Organization's expert committee didn't reach a consensus on whether to urge a coordinated international response to prevent the virus's spread.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.'s director general, on Saturday overruled a panel of advisers, who could not come to a consensus, and declared a “ ...

It’s possible that only severe cases were detected in the endemic regions of Africa, and the current outbreak offers a more accurate picture of the disease, Dr. Eckerle said. Containing the virus may be even more challenging in countries with limited or no supply of vaccines and treatments. Some — especially those who develop sores in the throat, urethra or rectum — have suffered excruciating pain. Dr. James Lawler, co-director of the University of Nebraska’s Global Center for Health Security, estimated that it might take a year or more to control the outbreak. And in interviews, some experts said they did not agree with the rationale. This time the cause is monkeypox, which has spread in just a few weeks to dozens of countries and infected tens of thousands of people. As of Saturday, the United States had recorded nearly 3,000 cases, including two children, but the real toll is thought to be much higher, as testing is only now being scaled up. “We’ve now unfortunately really missed the boat on being able to put a lid on the outbreak earlier,” Dr. Lawler said. This is one way that a disease can become endemic in a region. Some global health experts have criticized the W.H.O.’s criteria for declaring such emergencies as opaque and inconsistent. The W.H.O.’s declaration signals a public health risk requiring a coordinated international response. It was apparently the first time that the director general had sidestepped his advisers to declare an emergency.

It showed up in Stanford's Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network, which is the only group publishing data on monkeypox in US wastewater.

In recent years, monkeypox has killed 3 to 6 percent of those it infects, and it is deadlier in young children. A question remains as to how much monkeypox DNA needs to get into the wastewater for SCAN to actually detect it. SCAN is, at present, the only effort releasing data on monkeypox in wastewater. It could be the beginning of new era in disease prevention. That includes respiratory and nasal secretions, spit, urine, feces, and semen—meaning a flushed tissue from someone with monkeypox can register the virus in wastewater. There is no evidence that you can contract monkeypox from wastewater itself. If a pathogen’s genetic footprint can persist in wastewater for over 24 hours, SCAN can likely detect it. Monkeypox is in the same virus family as smallpox but is less infectious and generally has more mild symptoms. Running water over these open sores in the shower or while washing your hands can catapult monkeypox DNA into wastewater. In late 2021, wastewater surveillance suggested the omicron variant was prevalent in the US much earlier than clinical testing reported. Last month, Stanford’s Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network, or SCAN, added monkeypox to the suite of viruses it checks wastewater for daily. It's the only public effort in the US to test if monkeypox is detectable in the shower, sink, and toilet water that is sent to wastewater treatment plants for decontamination.

LONDON (AP) — The chief of the World Health Organization said the expanding monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries is an “extraordinary” situation ...

“Vaccination in the West might help stop the outbreak there, but there will still be cases in Africa,” he said. And he’s reflecting that uncertainty and his determination of the event” to be a global emergency. Dr. Placide Mbala, a virologist who directs the global health department at Congo’s Institute of National Biomedical Research, said he hoped any global efforts to stop monkeypox would be equitable. “The window has probably closed for us to quickly stop the outbreaks in Europe and the U.S., but it’s not too late to stop monkeypox from causing huge damage to poorer countries without the resources to handle it.” “Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern for the moment, this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Tedros said. Experts suspect the monkeypox outbreaks in Europe and North America were spread via sex at two raves in Belgium and Spain. Declaring a global emergency means the monkeypox outbreak is an “extraordinary event” that could spill over into more countries and requires a coordinated global response. Past announcements had mixed impact, given that the U.N. health agency is largely powerless in getting countries to act. A global emergency is WHO’s highest level of alert, but the designation does not necessarily mean a disease is particularly transmissible or lethal. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the decision to issue the declaration despite a lack of consensus among experts serving on the U.N. health agency’s emergency committee. “That means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 74 countries since about May. To date, monkeypox deaths have only been reported in Africa, where a more dangerous version of the virus is spreading, mainly in Nigeria and Congo.

After 5 p.m. on Friday, Friend's Tavern, a gay bar in Queens, served up more than cocktails — there were flyers passed around the bar with information about ...

"These are community hubs for the gay community, for gay men, in particular," Vasan said. "We don’t need to deal with two pandemics at the same time." Can I tell them where to get the vaccine?"

The WHO last issued a global health emergency in response to Covid-19 in January 2020.

The U.S. is already distributing tens of thousands of doses of a vaccine called Jynneos in an effort to quash the outbreak. ACAM2000 uses a mild virus strain in the same family as monkeypox and smallpox to confer immunity. Men who have sex with men are at the highest risk right now, as the majority of transmission has occurred in the gay community. The CDC and WHO have said the rash is easily confused with common sexually transmitted diseases. Tedros warned stigma and discrimination are violations of human rights that will undermine the public health response to the outbreak. The WHO has said the international community did not invest enough resources in fighting monkeypox in Africa before the global outbreak. In 2020, the agency declared Covid a pandemic in an effort to warn complacent governments about the "alarming levels of spread and severity" of the virus. In contrast to Covid-19, monkeypox is not a new virus. Before a global health emergency is declared, the WHO's emergency committee meets to weigh the evidence and make a recommendation to the director general. She said public health authorities had a window of opportunity to contain the outbreak. The WHO last issued a global health emergency in January 2020 in response to the Covid-19 outbreak and two months later declared it a pandemic. Historically, monkeypox has spread at low levels in remote parts of West and Central Africa where rodents and other animals carried the virus.

The outbreak has spread worldwide "rapidly," and officials understand "too little" about the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

"In the days and weeks ahead, you're gonna just see more and more." Last week, HHS announced that it has ordered another 2.5 million doses of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine, amidst increased demand for the shots. The risk of monkeypox is moderate globally except in the European region, where the risk is assessed as high, he said. Ghebreyesus said it is possible that increased travel during the COVID-19 pandemic may have helped the virus spread. The department's latest order is in addition to its July 1 order of 2.5 million doses, which will begin arriving over the next year. Monkeypox is generally a mild illness with the most common symptoms being fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches.

The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak represents a global health emergency, the World Health Organization's highest level of alert, WHO Director-General ...

Raj Panjabi, director of the White House pandemic preparedness office, said a "coordinated, international response is essential" to stop the spread of the disease and protect communities at the greatest risk of contracting it. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com The White House said the declaration was a "call to action for the world community to stop the spread of this virus." The WHO label - a "public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)" - is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments.

The World Health Organization has declared monkeypox a public health emergency of global concern. From how it spreads to preventive measures, here's what ...

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Perspectives of clinicians treating patients with the disease. 24 July 2022. In just over two months a global outbreak of monkeypox in non-endemic countries ...

Even so, it is important to point out that MSM are currently at higher risk of contracting monkeypox because of the social and sexual networks in which the disease has been spreading the fastest. This will protect your health and the health of those you hold close. "Most people are looking for what they've been told to watch out for on social media -- so a rash -- but it's not what we always see. "At the beginning of May I had several patients presenting with what appeared to be ulcers. However, since then we have also seen others as a result of referrals from our sexual health clinic". Dr Francisco Silva is a General Practitioner in Lisbon, Portugal, who also works at a sexual health clinic in the city.

The virus has spread to 75 countries but remains almost entirely confined to gay and bisexual men | Science & technology.

If countries’ tussling for covid-19 jabs in the early days of the pandemic is a guide, that will be the organisation’s toughest job. It has been used against monkeypox in America and Europe based on limited data of efficacy from monkeypox outbreaks in Africa. About half of countries that are currently reporting monkeypox cases have secured some amount of the vaccine, says the who. One of its tasks now is to ensure that the supplies rolling off production lines are sent to where they are needed the most. That probably explains, at least in part, the higher mortality among monkeypox cases in Africa (where as many as 3-6% of cases can be fatal). There have been no deaths so far among the thousands of cases diagnosed in Western countries. In the current outbreak about 70% of cases are in Europe and 15% are in America, though far more limited testing in other regions means that transmission chains there may be going undetected. On july 23rd the World Health Organisation (who) declared the spread of monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern”, the highest level of alert in its hierarchy of warnings.

Ashish Jha, coronavirus response coordinator, defends Biden administration response but California Democrat wants answers.

“We really don’t know the future course of this virus. His host, Margaret Brennan, said: “You said the federal response falls short in terms of supply and timeliness, regarding a vaccine. Schiff said: “I don’t know why there aren’t more vaccines available. But, we have substantially ramped up that response, and that is now I think being felt in localities around the country.” So what I would say is this is a virus that we have known for, you know, 60 years, we had the vaccine and diagnostic capabilities to manage it. I had them on my skull, on my face, my arms, my legs, my feet, my hands, my torso, my back, and five just on my right elbow.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus personally intervened after nine members of the expert committee were against declaring the monkeypox outbreak ...

The Covid-19 outbreak forced governments around the world to revamp their pandemic response programs, invest in drugs and vaccines and establish viral ...