The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified that 21 Americans have become infected with monkeypox in 11 states across the nation and officials are expecting the numbers to rise.
With the sudden and mysterious outbreak of the illness, many are wondering if they should be worried similar to how they were when the coronavirus took over many countries. Genetic analysis has revealed that while most of the cases appear to be closely related to the outbreak in Europe, two patients have versions of the virus that seems to have evolved from a monkeypox case identified in Texas last year.
Monkeypox Outbreak
Out of the 17 patients whom the health agency had detailed information, all but one were among men who had sex with other men. Fourteen of the patients had traveled to other countries in the three weeks before the initial show of symptoms. Three of them were also found to be immunocompromised.
Researchers from the health agency have not yet been able to identify how one patient in an unnamed state acquired the virus. The situation suggests that there is ongoing community transmission at least in that particular state and potentially others across the nation, said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston of the CDC, as per the New York Times.
The health expert said that the agency wanted to increase its surveillance efforts to be able to monitor and track the virus' spread across the United States. Officials have successfully identified a total of about 400 contacts of 13 patients who also risk becoming infected with monkeypox in the near future.
Identifying contacts at risk will help health officials determine what resources are needed in or to contain the outbreak of the virus. Health officials have so far delivered roughly 1,200 vaccine doses and 100 treatment courses to eight states, said the White House's senior director for global health security and biodefense Dr. Raj Panjabi.
According to Fox News, the CDC's data showed that there were four cases each in California and New York, three in Florida, two each in Colorado and Utah, and one each in Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington state.
The Severity of the Disease
In Florida, one of the cases listed was also included in the UK case counts because the individual was tested while abroad there. Health officials on Thursday reported suspected monkeypox cases in multiple cities across the United States.
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health in the city of Brotherly Love announced that it had identified a resident who is a probable case based on preliminary testing. In a statement, Health Department Acute Communicable Disease Program Manager Dana Perella said that the threat of monkeypox to Philadelphians was "extremely low."
She noted that this is due to monkeypox being much less contagious than COVID-19 and is particularly containable when prompt care is sought for symptoms. There are also readily available vaccines for the illness that can lessen the severity of the disease.
Unlike the coronavirus that is transmitted through air droplets, monkeypox spreads through close contact with broken skin or mucous membranes. Since the beginning of the outbreak, there have only been roughly 500 positive cases worldwide, BillyPenn reported.
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