This illustration shows test tubes labeled “Monkeypox virus positive and negative” on May 23, 2022.
Donat Ruvic | Reuters
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stepped up its focus on monkeypox, urging travelers to take extra precautions, including the use of face masks, as global virus cases exceed 1,000 .
The CDC on Monday raised its alert to level 2, urging people to “take better precautions” to curb the outbreak, which has spread to 29 non-endemic countries last month. The highest level alert, level 3, would warn against non-essential travel.
Although the public health agency said the risk to the general public remains low, the increased alert encourages people to avoid close contact with sick people, including those with skin or genital injuries, as well as animals. sick or dead. It also urges those with symptoms of the virus, such as a rash or unexplained lesions, to avoid contact with other people and to contact their healthcare provider for guidance.
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by monkeypox virus infection, with symptoms including rashes, fever, headaches, 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 fears of the spread of the community.
As of Monday, 1,019 cases of confirmed and suspected smallpox have been reported in 29 countries, according to the CDC. The United Kingdom has recorded the most cases by far, with 302 suspected and confirmed infections. It is followed by Spain with 198, Portugal with 153 and Canada with 80.
Health experts have been looking for clues as to the origin of the outbreak, which has historically been linked to travel from endemic countries. The technical director of the World Health Organization’s monkeypox reported on Wednesday that the virus could have been transmitted undetected in non-endemic countries for “weeks, months or possibly a couple of years”.
US detects two strains of monkeypox
Until recently, the current outbreak was thought to be derived from the West African virus strain, which produces a less serious disease than other variants and has a mortality rate of 1%.
However, the CDC said on Friday that at least two genetically different variants of monkeypox are circulating in the United States, increasing the confusion among health experts. The United States has reported a total of 30 cases of the virus so far.
“Although they are similar to each other, their genetic analysis shows that they are not related to each other,” said Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Pathogens and High-Impact Pathology, about the two variants on one wheel. press release Friday. .
McQuiston said the two strains are likely to come from two different cases in which the virus has spread from animals to humans in Africa, before spreading through person-to-person contact.
Professor Eyal Leshem, an infectious disease specialist at Sheba Medical Center, told CNBC on Monday that the spread of the virus to non-endemic countries was not surprising given the frequency and ease of international travel, as well as the increased interaction between humans and animals.
“Diseases that spread locally can now make their way between countries and continents much more easily,” Leshem said.
“Meanwhile, the interaction between humans and animals has also amplified. Climate change has forced some animals to be in closer contact with humans, you will see more of this type of disease,” he added.
While most cases of monkeypox are mild, they usually resolve within 2 to 4 weeks, the U.S. said Monday, having 36,000 doses of a suitable vaccine it sends to people who have had high-risk exposures to virus. Some European countries, including the United Kingdom and Spain, have announced similar measures to curb the spread of the disease.
Smallpox is not considered a sexually transmitted disease, although most cases have so far spread through sex, and in particular men who have sex with men, according to the CDC.