Here’s why America is the epicentre of the Monkeypox disease

People queue up to receive monkeypox vaccinations during a pop-up clinic at Guy's Hospital in central London. New York had the most cases, with 2 910, followed by California with 2 663 and Florida with 1 588, according to CDC data. Picture: Reuters

People queue up to receive monkeypox vaccinations during a pop-up clinic at Guy's Hospital in central London. New York had the most cases, with 2 910, followed by California with 2 663 and Florida with 1 588, according to CDC data. Picture: Reuters

Published Aug 29, 2022

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The US has confirmed over 15 000 monkeypox cases, according to the latest data from the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A total of 15 433 known monkeypox cases had been reported nationwide as of Monday, CDC data showed.

The US has confirmed over 15 000 monkeypox cases. New York had the most cases, with 2 910, followed by California with 2 663 and Florida with 1 588, according to CDC data.

The Biden administration has been facing criticism in its response to the monkeypox outbreak, including failure to order enough vaccines, speed treatments and make tests available to head off the outbreak.

So far, the US has the world’s highest tally of monkeypox cases.

Over the last week, the US also saw the largest increase in monkeypox infections of any country, according to data from the World Health Organization.

Why cases are so high in the US

According to a scientist who chatted to National Public Radio NPR, the monkeypox case count is misleading.

They reckon that the outbreak is bigger – perhaps much bigger – than the case count suggests.

“For many of the confirmed cases, health officials don’t know how the person caught the virus. Those infected haven’t travelled or come into contact with another infected person. That means the virus is spreading in some communities and cities, cryptically,” according to the NPR report.

“The fact that we can’t reconstruct the transmission chain means that we are likely missing a lot of links in that chain,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University.

“And that means that those infected people haven’t had the opportunity to receive medicines to help them recover faster and not develop severe symptoms. But it also means that they’re possibly spreading the virus without knowledge of the fact that they’re infected,” she added.

In other words: “We have no concept of the scale of the monkeypox outbreak in the US,” says biologist Joseph Osmundson at New York University.

Essentially, the US has dropped the ball on monkeypox testing.

Osmundson further said that across the country, public health agencies were running too few tests – way too few.

“State officials are denying people testing because they’re using a narrow definition of monkeypox to decide who receives a test. They’re testing in only a very restrictive number of cases.”

The WHO’s data show that the monkeypox outbreak continues to affect young males, with 98.2 percent of the cases being males with a median age of 36 years. Among the infections of those who reported sexual orientation, 95.8 percent were men who had sex with men, and the majority of these infections were likely contracted in a party setting with sexual contacts.

New names for Monkeypox

Meanwhile, the global health authority announced new names for variants of monkeypox to avoid causing any cultural or social offence

WHO named Monkeypox variants as Clades I, IIa and IIb. Experts in pox virology, evolutionary biology and representatives of research institutes from across the globe reviewed the phylogeny and nomenclature of known and new monkeypox virus variants or clades.

Monkeypox symptoms as per CDC.

People with monkeypox get a rash that may be located on or near the genitals (penis, testicles, labia and vagina) or anus and could be on other areas like the hands, feet, chest, face or mouth.

The rash will go through several stages, including scabs, before healing.

The rash can initially look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy.

Other symptoms of monkeypox can include:

Fever

Chills

Swollen lymph nodes

Exhaustion

Muscle aches and backache

Headache

Respiratory symptoms (eg sore throat, nasal congestion, or cough)

You may experience all or only a few symptoms

Sometimes, people have flu-like symptoms before the rash.

Some people get a rash first, followed by other symptoms.

Others only experience a rash.

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