People demonstrate during a rally calling for more government action to combat the spread of monkeypox at Foley Square on July 21, 2022 in New York City.
Jeenah Moon | beautiful pictures
The Biden administration has declared monkeypox a public health emergency as the outbreak in the US has grown into the world’s largest, the nation’s top health official said on Wednesday. Five.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra’s emergency declaration will help mobilize more resources to combat the outbreak, which has spread rapidly since health authorities in Boston confirmed its first case. in the US in May. The last time the United States declared a public health emergency was in response to Covid-19 in January 2020.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US has confirmed more than 6,600 cases of smallpox in 48 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. The true number of infections may be higher than the official figure because patients can only get tested after developing a rash, which can take a week or more after first exposure to the virus.
Becerra told reporters on Thursday’s call: “Based on all these developments and how the situation is actually evolving, I would like to make an announcement today that I will be declaring a state of emergency. public health level.
Monkeypox is rarely fatal, and no deaths have been reported in the US to date, but patients often experience debilitating pain from a skin rash caused by the virus. Eight people have died from the disease around the world in the current outbreak, mainly in Africa, where the health system is not as strong as the United States, Spain and Brazil first reported. virus deaths outside of Africa last weekend.
Monkeypox is mainly spread by skin-to-skin contact during sex now. Gay and bisexual men have the highest risk of infection today, public health officials say. About 98% of patients who provide demographic information to clinics identify as men who have sex with men, according to the CDC. But anyone can get the virus from close contact with an infected person or contaminated material.
Scientists and public health officials are worried that monkeypox could end up circulating in the US if faster action is not taken to contain the outbreak.
WHO Declare monkeypox a global health emergency last month. According to CDC data, more than 26,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported across 87 countries. The United States accounts for 25% of confirmed infections worldwide. Health authorities in the UK first alerted the world to the outbreak in May after confirming several cases there.
The global outbreak is highly unusual because monkeypox first spread widely in North America and Europe, where the virus is usually not found. Historically, monkeypox has spread at low rates in remote areas of West and Central Africa, where rodents and other animals carried the virus. Human-to-human transmission has been relatively rare before, with the virus often jumping from animals to humans.
State and local emergencies
Lawmakers in Congress and local communities have criticized the speed of the federal government’s response, but Becerra said last week that HHS did everything possible to increase resources to fight the outbreak. The Health Secretary said states need to do more to contain transmission and Congress needs to pass funding to help respond to the outbreak.
The largest outbreaks in the US are in New York, California, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and D.C. New York, Illinois and California have declared state emergencies before the federal declaration.
Public health officials are concerned that the virus could begin to spread more in households across the broader population as infections increase. Although physical contact during sex is the main mode of transmission today, people can also get monkeypox through hugging, kissing, and contaminated towels and bed sheets.
The CDC last month confirmed the first US case of monkeypox in a child, a toddler in California and an infant whose family was traveling in DC. The infant’s family is not a resident of the United States. The children have symptoms but are in good health and are being treated with the antiviral drug tecovirimat, according to the CDC. According to the CDC, young children can get the virus through family transmission.
Monkeypox can also be spread through respiratory droplets when people have lesions in the mouth, but this requires prolonged face-to-face interaction, According to the CDC. Health officials do not believe monkeypox is being spread through aerosol particles as small as Covid. Respiratory droplets are heavier so they don’t stay airborne for long, while Covid is an airborne virus, which is one of the reasons it’s so contagious.
Monkeypox usually begins with flu-like symptoms and then progresses to a painful rash that can spread throughout the body. But the symptoms in the current outbreak are unusual. Some people develop the first rash, while others develop a rash without any symptoms of a red rash. According to public health officials, many people have localized lesions on the genitals or anus.
According to the CDC, patients usually recover in 2-4 weeks without further medical treatment. But some people are hospitalized because the rash is so painful.
In 2003, the United States had a smallpox outbreak with dozens of confirmed and likely cases across six states. The villagers fell ill after coming into contact with the pet dogs on the prairie. The pets were infected after they were kept near small mammals imported from Ghana. According to the CDC, the 2003 US outbreak was the first time monkeypox was reported outside of Africa.
Public health agencies are also worried that as monkeypox spreads in the US, the virus could build up in animal populations, making it even harder for the virus to be eliminated from the country. .
Provide vaccines, tests and antiviral drugs
The federal government has shipped more than 600,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, known as Jynneos, to state and city health departments since May. Last month, CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, admitted that Demand for vaccines is outstripping supplyled to long lines at clinics and protests in several cities.
HHS implements 786,000 doses available for local governments to start placing orders last Friday, which could help alleviate supply problems. Dawn O’Connell, head of the office responsible for the strategic national stockpile, said HHS would ship the dosage within 30 hours of the states placing an order.
The US has ordered more than 5 million additional doses with an expected delivery time of mid-2023. Another 11.1 million doses are being stored in bulk in Denmark with Bavarian manufacturer Nordic, according to HHS. . But those doses need to be filled and completed before they can be administered, which will require additional funding from Congress, according to HHS.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Jynneos in 2019 for adults 18 years of age and older who are at high risk of exposure to monkeypox or smallpox. Jynneos is the only monkeypox vaccine approved by the FDA in the United States. It is given in two doses 28 days apart.
The United States also has more than 100 million doses of an older generation smallpox vaccine, called ACAM2000, that is effective against monkeypox. But ACAM2000 can have serious side effects and is not recommended for people with weakened immune systems such as HIV patients, pregnant women, and people with eczema and similar skin conditions.
According to the CDC, the US currently has no actual data on how effective vaccines are in preventing disease during the current outbreak. The vaccination campaign focuses on confirmed or presumptive exposure and sexually active men because they are most at risk of infection.
The US has increased testing capacity to 80,000 per week after putting several commercial labs into operation last month. Becerra said last month that current testing demand is only a fraction of the total capacity the United States currently has.
The United States also has 1.7 million courses of antiretroviral therapy tecovirimat in the strategic national stockpile. Healthcare providers are using tecovirimat to treat monkeypox patients, but prescribing the drug adds an extra layer of bureaucracy because the FDA has only approved it for smallpox. The CDC cut the red tape last month to make it easier for doctors to prescribe tecovirimat.
