Contents
The monkey pox epidemic is becoming increasingly widespread, there are the first deaths outside the African continent. The United States has the highest number of cases. The contagious Dr. Marshall Glesby speaks of a pandemic, and epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan admits that no one knows if the situation is getting out of hand. Worse, it is known how the epidemic can be contained, but it is not being used. The numbers are “shocking,” says Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of the California monkey pox advisory committee bluntly.
- According to ourworldindata.org data, the number of confirmed cases of monkey pox in the world exceeds 21.
- Over 50 cases of the disease have been reported in Poland
- The United States is at the heart of the monkey pox epidemic. So far, over 4,6 thousand people have been identified there. cases
- “I don’t think we have a really good idea of the true extent of the disease and how quickly it spreads,” admits epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan
- Experts believe the United States should have dealt with the epidemic, meanwhile the same mistakes were made as at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
- The main problem is testing, but this time its source is different
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
Monkey pox in the world. Doctor: I would call it a pandemic
Monkey pox is not a new disease. “We’ve known for decades that it’s a potential problem,” emphasizes University of California epidemiologist Dr. Anne Rimoin (the virus that causes monkey pox was discovered in the late XNUMXs). The expert notes that it was only when the pathogen spread beyond Africa that it triggered a global reaction. In late July, the World Health Organization announced a global emergency related to the monkey pox epidemic. In USA Today, Dr. Marshall Glesby, specialist in infectious diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine, said directly: “Considering how widespread the virus is worldwide, I would call it a pandemic.”
In Europe, the disease was identified in late April. Today we know that it also reached Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and the Americas (infections were detected in almost 80 countries around the world). According to ourworldindata.org data, the number of confirmed cases of monkey pox in the world exceeds 21. (more than 50 cases of the disease have been reported in Poland, as noted by virologist Prof. Krzysztof Pyrć from the Jagiellonian University, this is relatively little).
It is known that monkey pox is usually mild, so there has been concern about the deaths of infected people. Five people have died in Africa so far. The first death victim of the virus outside the African continent was a 41-year-old man from Brazil (the patient had lymphoma and a weakened immune system). Soon after, Spain reported the deaths of two people (the first fatal cases in Europe). On August 1, India confirmed the first death of a person with the monkey pox virus (it has not yet been confirmed whether the cause was actually monkey pox).
The monkey pox epidemic is getting out of control? It is not known
Disturbing information is coming from the United States. It is a country that is at the center of the monkey pox epidemic (over 4,6 thousand cases). In the aforementioned USA Today, epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan admitted that no one knows if the epidemic is getting out of hand. “I don’t think we have a really good idea about the true extent of the disease and how quickly it spreads,” said the specialist. And it is not the only one. “We have no idea about the scale of the monkey pox epidemic in the US,” said Joseph Osmundson, a biologist from New York University, in June.
Public health experts believe the United States should have dealt with the outbreak, meanwhile, the same mistakes have been made as at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an insufficient number of readily available tests or vaccines and an incomplete picture of the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, testing is, according to experts, a key tool in containing the spreading monkey pox epidemic.
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And although American laboratories now offer tens of thousands of tests a day, the problem still exists. CNN even writes about a “shocking” lack of demand.
Key testing in inhibiting monkey pox. Big problem and its causes
“For example, the Mayo Clinic labs can process 11 samples of the monkey pox virus each week, but since the study began on July 45, they have only received XNUMX samples from doctors. In the past two weeks – there have been none at all »- reports CNN.
These figures are “shocking”, admits Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a member of the California Department of Public Health’s Monkey Pox Advisory Committee. «It’s really, really disturbing. It’s like COVID PTSD » He said, referring to the early phase of the pandemic, when coronavirus testing was very limited. While the anxiety is the same, the reasons are different: for COVID-19, testing capacity was low, and for monkey pox, opportunities are there, but demand is low.
There are two reasons why testing is the primary weapon against the spread of monkey pox. First, it is the first step in identifying and isolating patients, on the expensive side, giving an idea of the extent of the epidemic and the areas most at risk and requiring specific action. “You’re going blind without testing,” said Dr. William Morice, chairman of the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Laboratories and president of the Mayo lab.
Experts see two main reasons why people don’t benefit from testing. The first is education. The second is that some people with monkey pox symptoms may not seek medical care for fear of becoming stigmatized.
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