Disease likely spread by close contact: US officials
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NEW YORK • Monkeypox is likely being spread from person to person by close, intimate or sexual contact with someone who has an active rash, United States senior health officials said.
The one US case of the virus, usually contracted from infected animals, has no known link to Africa, where the disease is most commonly found, said the officials, who spoke without being identified as a condition of participating in the call.
While the risk to the general public is low, health workers are being alerted to monitor possible cases and use protective equipment when needed, they said.
Unlike the Covid-19 virus, which is spread through the air and respiratory droplets, spreading monkeypox requires much closer contact. Sharing bedding, clothing or a toothbrush with an infected person would create greater risk, the officials said on the call.
New and suspected cases of monkeypox have been cropping up in Europe and North America in recent days. The rare and potentially deadly cousin of the smallpox virus is traditionally confined to regions in Africa, but health officials are concerned about its wide spread.
The World Health Organisation said it has confirmed 37 cases and is investigating 71 worldwide. An advisory group on infections with pandemic and endemic potential met on Friday to discuss monkeypox, which has been a priority pathogen for the agency for years, said a spokesman.
In Massachusetts, where the one US case has been confirmed, state health officials are interviewing the patient to find out who he may have had contact with.
The US recorded two cases of monkeypox last year in travellers who had visited Nigeria. However, in the most current crop of worldwide cases, there is no known link to an African country. The scale of unusual infections has created scientific concern, an official said on the call.
Monkeypox is significantly less dangerous than smallpox. The strain currently circulating is believed to kill about 1 per cent of those infected, though no one has died in this current outbreak.
BLOOMBERG
