As monkeypox cases soar into the thousands, the Biden administration is considering whether to declare the outbreak a public health emergency, after the World Health Organization on Thursday said the virus has become a global problem.
On Friday, United States cases of monkeypox topped 2,800 while globally that number surpassed more than 16,000.
While those most susceptible to are men who identify as gay or bisexual – about 99% of the current cases involve men who have sex with men – the diagnosis of two pediatric patients this week raised the level of concern that the virus may be targeting other populations, MSN reported.
‘We’re looking at ways in which the response could be enhanced by declaring a public health emergency,’ White House COVID response coordinator, Ashish Jha, said Friday.
That announcement would come from the Department of Health and Human Services, Jha said.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization held an emergency committee to consider for the second time within weeks whether the expanding outbreak of monkeypox should be declared a global crisis
A chart of monkeypox in the United States with New York reporting 830, the highest number of cases, as of July 22. West Virginia, North Dakota and South Dakota have the lowest
A chart of the monkeypox virus shows New York at the top with 830 reported cases, followed by California with 356 cases. West Virginia, South Dakota and North Dakota had only one reported case.
While the Biden administration mulls its next step, health officials are clarifying how to administer the smallpox antiviral medication, Tpoxx manufactured by Siga Technologi’s in pediatric patients.
Jennifer McQuiston, the CDC’s deputy director of high consequence pathogens and pathology, said that infections of people who are not part of the LGBTQ community aren’t surprising.
“While this outbreak is spreading in a particular social network right now, I think we’ve messaged from the start that there could be cases that occur outside those networks,” McQuiston said. “We need to be vigilant and ready to respond.”
his 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak
The US currently has 1.7 million doses available through the Strategic National Stockpile, but physicians have had trouble actually getting the drugs to patients, MSN reported.
On Friday, the CDC said they were working on streamlining the process health-care providers must go through in order to prescribe Tpoxx.
Another antiviral treatment called Tembexa made by Chimerix Inc. is another vaccine the government is trying to deploy.
Tembexa that is known to have some serious side effects has not been studied greatly in humans, a report said.
Bavarian Nordic A/S’s Jynneos vaccine has been a challenge for the Biden administration due to allocation to states and jurisdictions because of limited supply of the shots.
To date, health officials have deployed 300,000 doses of Jynneos with more shots expected to arrive soon.
The monkey virus is not related to chickenpox, but the symptoms are similar to smallpox though milder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Symptoms may include fever, a headache, muscle aches and backache. Swollen lymph nodes are also part of the virus, as swell as chills and exhaustion.
A blister-like rash may develop that may also appear to look like pimples that can surface on the face, inside the mouth, hands, feet, chest genitals, anus and other parts of the body.
The rash goes through different stages before healing completely. Those who experience monkeypox may develop the rash first, followed by other symptoms, as others may just get the rash.
The illness typically lasts up to two to four weeks.
