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The Nigerian doctor who treated the 2017 monkeypox outbreak in Nigeria told Fox News in an interview that the virus now “shows all the signs of becoming an established STD,” as more US cases emerge and the Biden administration has treated the outbreak to public health. Said emergency.
Infectious disease physician Dr. Dimi Ogoina treated the first monkeypox case in Nigeria in nearly 40 years. In that year of 2017, an 11-year-old boy came to him with smallpox-like grains.
The doctor said he had “never seen a case of monkeypox in my life – I” [had] Just saw the pictures,” Ogoina told Fox News.
Monkeypox vaccine authorization extended by FDA to increase supply of doses
In the 1970s, doctors discovered the first documented cases of monkeypox in humans in children in Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Before that, scientists had detected the first cases among monkeys in 1958 at an animal facility in Copenhagen, Denmark—the disease was nicknamed “monkeypox.”
But in 2017, Dr Ogoina, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Niger Delta in Nigeria, noticed that the 11-year-old boy had no contact with animals. The virus spread through her family, first infecting her uncle, then her mother, father and younger brother.
A registered nurse prepares a dose of monkeypox vaccine at the Salt Lake County Health Department on July 28, 2022 in Salt Lake City. On August 9, 2022, US health officials authorized a new monkeypox vaccination strategy designed to increase limited supplies by allowing health professionals to vaccinate up to five people – instead of one – with each vial.
(AP Photo/Rick Bomer, FILE)
After sending samples of the boy’s wounds to a laboratory in Senegal, Dr. Ogoina confirmed his suspicions: the boy had contracted the first case of monkeypox in Nigeria in 38 years.
In 2017 the outbreak increased to 200 confirmed cases in Nigeria. Since then, monkeypox virus in Africa has gone from a rare disease to an endemic one – cases mainly spread among young, gay and bisexual men.
While the virus is not endemic in the US, Dr. Ogoina told Fox News that in his opinion, it shows signs of becoming “an established STD” – meaning that it, like other diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, is in the US population. is spreading. or HIV.
The CDC told Fox News that while the virus can be sexually transmitted, it has not reached sexually transmitted infection (STI) status.
In 2021, the US confirmed two cases of monkeypox from travelers arriving from Nigeria.
The CDC cited contract tracing efforts and “strong collaboration between CDC, state and local health departments, airline and airport partners” as reasons for the spread.
A man is shown in an “isolation ward” for cases of monkeypox at a clinic in India.
Now, less than a year later, cases of monkeypox are on the rise.
According to the CDC, there are 14,115 confirmed cases of monkeypox (orthopoxvirus) in the US as of Thursday afternoon, August 18, 2022.
In response to a question, the CDC told Fox News that the virus may be sexually transmitted, but it has not reached sexually transmitted infection (STI) status.
“This shows us that the virus is evolving and becoming more adapted to the human host,” Dr. Dimi Ogoina said.
,[The] The current outbreak has given rise to the question whether monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Monkeypox can more accurately be described as ‘sexually transmitted’. In other words, sex is one way monkeypox can be spread, but not the only way,” the agency said.
“In current monkeypox outbreaks,” it said, “the virus is primarily spread through close contact with someone who has monkeypox. This includes contact with monkeypox lesions or respiratory secretions, followed by continuous skin-to-skin contact. includes contact through the medium that occurs during sex.”
Health workers at the Anna International Airport terminal in Chennai, India, screen passengers for symptoms of monkeypox on June 3, 2022.
(Arun Shankar/AFP via Getty Images)
With cases rising, states scramble to distribute vaccines and boost testing efforts as HHS expands the monkeypox vaccine to more than 1.1 million doses.
The Biden administration is considering reducing the dose, which would make the vaccine one-fifth as potent.
What to do if you have monkeypox: symptoms, vaccination and treatment
On August 9, 2022, the White House issued the following statement, in part, regarding this.
“The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a Section 564 Declaration, allowing the FDA to exercise its authority to allow health care providers to administer vaccine doses up to five times the number per vial of JYNNEOS vaccine. Permission granted.”
It continued, “Following last week’s public health emergency declaration, today HHS Secretary Javier Becerra issued a determination under Section 564 of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act Declaration to Prevent Monkeypox and to Prevent Serious Disease.” Allows emergency use authorization of vaccines. From viruses. This action paves the way for the federal government to receive up to five times the amount of a given dose from a single vial of JYNNEOS vaccine.”
“The best way to prevent this risk is not through vaccination,” said Dr. Robert Malone. “It is through contact tracing, containment and isolation until these people are no longer contagious.”
It continued, “The EUA now allows 0.1 ml of ZnEOS vaccine to be administered between layers of the skin (intravenously), as opposed to 0.5 ml of vaccine administered under the skin (subcutaneously).
Vaccine distribution is one factor in preventing monkeypox outbreaks. Other experts point to other measures.
Dr Robert Malone, co-inventor of the mRNA vaccine, told Fox News that in his view vaccination should not be the first line of defense.
“Not the best way to prevent this risk is through vaccination,” Malone said. “It is through contact tracing, containment and isolation until these people are no longer contagious.”
Health care workers with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene help people register for the monkeypox vaccine at a vaccination site in the city on Tuesday, July 26, 2022 in New York City.
(AP Photo/Mary Altafer)
He also added, “We don’t even know how effective this vaccine really is. It wasn’t designed for monkeypox… very similar to what’s being done right now, early in the coronavirus crisis.” happened.”
Public health officials are also battling stigma about the name of the disease and the population affected.
“Names should be given to newly identified viruses, associated diseases, and virus variants for the purpose of avoiding offense to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups…”
WHO is considering renaming monkeypox, issuing a statement that said, “Current best practice is that newly identified virus, associated disease, and virus variants are not recognized as a cultural, social, national should be named for the purpose of avoiding regional crime, professional or ethnic group, and minimize any negative impact on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare.”
Who will name the monkeypox to avoid discrimination and stigma?
Regarding the spread of monkeypox, Dr. Malone also told Fox News, “It’s a very small global group … and it’s a sexually transmitted disease within that global group of people who often have multiple sex partners. “
He also said, “In public health, I think we have to be really careful about the situations in which we are limiting our ability to communicate effectively with those most at risk.”
Despite the rise in cases, American voters are not worried about monkeypox, according to a Fox News poll. Between August 6-9, 54 per cent of registered voters said they were not worried about monkeypox.
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However, there is an urgent need to contain the virus among the global community.
“This is an infection that has spread so rapidly to more than 50 countries in less than two months and is still spreading,” Dr Ogoina said.
(This story has not been edited by seemayo staff and is published from a rss feed)