The United States has reported a “cluster” outbreak of smallpox (Monkeypox) at both music festivals and music festivals. Pool parties and bathhouses, which previously appeared to be outbreaks in unconnected people. and is considering must raise this disease to “Sexually transmitted disease (STD)” or not?
Health officials in heavily infected areas now need more vaccines to help control human-to-human transmission. which occurs when there is close contact, skin-to-skin, flesh-to-meat
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Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officers, said: “There are two big approaches to responding to this situation.”
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Freeman said the first approach was “focusing on the event or location that could be a hotbed for the spread of monkey pox.”
However, this approach is very difficult to implement. “We’re just out of Pride Month. Our health departments in some parts of the country are really overwhelmed because so many people have anonymous sex partners. And it’s hard to keep track of when or how they got infected.”
Contact tracing is usually of infected men who say they don’t know the names of everyone they have sex with. Some people report having multiple sexual relationships with strangers.
The second approach “We have to allocate the amount of vaccine available. and focus on prevention in high-risk individuals.”
The number of monkey pox cases is increasing. Number of confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox in the US more than doubled in the past week It rose from 866 to 1,814 between July 11-16, and as of today (July 22), the number has jumped to 2,400.
Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States, or other countries have not classified smallpox as a sexually transmitted disease. But the disease is spread through skin-to-skin contact. and in the current epidemic situation The virus is mainly spread among men who have sex with men.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 1.5 million men in the U.S. People who have sex with men are eligible for the smallpox vaccine.
As of Tuesday (July 19), more than 190,000 doses of the vaccine were available for the prevention of smallpox and smallpox. It has been pulled from the treasury to support efforts to tackle monkeypox. But some local health officials say The vaccine received was not sufficient to meet the demand.
The experts in the United States considering that The spread of monkeypox is higher in the United States, especially among men who have sex with men. It could be an early sign that it’s a new STD. because some people are afraid The disease is spreading at levels close to other STDs such as gonorrhea, herpes and HIV.
U.S. health officials are unsure how quickly the monkeypox virus can spread. They have limited information about who is diagnosed. And they don’t know how many people are infected unknowingly spreading the infection.
Monkey pox is endemic in parts of Africa. In which people are infected by bites of rats or small animals. It rarely spreads in people. But this year, more than 15,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in countries where the disease has not been found in the past, such as the United States and Europe.
Shawn Kearnan, Head of Communicable Diseases Fairfax County The state of Virginia said there was reason to be pessimistic. Monkey pox may become a sexually transmitted disease. Considering that so far, the epidemic has been concentrated mainly among men who have sex with men.
He said that whenever monkeypox spreads among heterosexual people, it could be a “turning point” that makes it considered a sexually transmitted disease.
Dr Edward Hook III, Emeritus Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, said: Monkey smallpox doesn’t just happen in MSM. And the heavy epidemic among heterosexual groups is only a matter of time.
If chickenpox becomes an endemic STD It will be a challenge for health and medical systems that are already burdened by COVID-19. and other STIs that exist
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Compiled from AP/CNN.
image from AFP