Although some health officials believe the virus that causes pimple-like lumps may still be confined before it becomes firmly established, the emergence of monkeypox in the U.S. could signal the beginning of a new sexually transmitted illness.
On the expected course of the illness, experts are divided. Some worry that it is spreading so quickly that it may soon turn into an established STD like gonorrhea, herpes, or HIV.
However, no one is quite certain, and others claim that testing and vaccinations can still prevent the pandemic from spreading.
An international outbreak that started two months ago has so far resulted in more than 2,400 infections in the United States.
Health officials are uncertain of the virus’s rate of dissemination. They know very little about those who have received a diagnosis, and they have no idea how many infected individuals may be unintentionally spreading the disease.
Additionally, they are unaware of the effectiveness of treatments and immunizations. One barrier is that federal health officials lack the power to gather and link information on who has contracted an infection and who has received vaccinations.
Predictions of how large the U.S. outbreak will become this summer range significantly, from 13,000 to maybe more than 10 times that number, with such large question marks surrounding them.
The government’s response is becoming more robust daily, according to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and vaccine supplies will soon surge.
Walensky told reporters, “I think we still have a chance to contain this.
In some regions of Africa, where rats and other tiny animals attack people, monkeypox is endemic. Typically, it doesn’t spread quickly among people.
However, this year, more than 15,000 instances in nations that typically don’t encounter the sickness have been reported. Health experts have emphasized that anyone can contract the virus, despite the fact that the vast majority of cases in the U.S. and Europe have occurred in males who have had sex with men.
It primarily spreads through skin-to-skin contact, but it can also spread through linens that have been used by a person who has monkeypox. Officials have been keeping an eye out for additional methods of dissemination that could widen the outbreak, despite the fact that it has been spreading through the population like a sexually transmitted disease.
Fever, bodily aches, chills, weariness, and lumps in various places of the body are some symptoms. No one has passed away in the United States, and the illness has only been moderate in many males. However, the illness can last for weeks and the lesions can be excruciatingly painful.
There was hope that public health professionals might contain monkeypox when it first appeared.
Infections should have been simple to spot thanks to the telltale lumps. Additionally, because the virus spreads through intimate contact, authorities believed they could accurately track its spread by questioning affected individuals about their romantic relationships.
It turned out to not be that simple.
Due to the rarity of monkeypox in the United States, many affected men—as well as their physicians—may have mistakenly attributed their rashes to other causes.
Infected men who claimed they did not know the identities of everyone they had sex with frequently prevented contact tracing. Some claimed to have engaged in numerous sexual encounters with strangers.
It didn’t help that local health authorities had to find the funding to conduct extensive contact tracing for monkeypox on top of already having to deal with COVID-19 and a plethora of other illnesses.
In fact, some regional health authorities have given up on obtaining much information via contact tracing.
There was still hope, though, because the American government already has a vaccine. The Jynneos two-dose regimen, which was suggested as a monkeypox treatment last year, was licensed in the U.S. in 2019.
Only approximately 2,000 doses were accessible to U.S. officials when the outbreak was initially discovered in May. The government gave them out, but only to those who had recently been exposed to the virus as determined by public health investigations.
The CDC started advising that injections be given to anyone who independently realizes they may have been infected as late as last month when more doses became accessible.
Clinics in several locations are rapidly running out of vaccination doses as a result of the demand outstripping the supply, and health officials across the nation are reporting a shortage.
It’s changing, according to Walensky. More than 191,000 doses have been issued by the government as of this week, and there are 160,000 more that are prepared to be sent. As early as next week, up to 780,000 dosages will be made available.
The administration will consider stepping up vaccination efforts after the current demand has been met.
According to the CDC, 1.5 million American men are thought to be at high risk of contracting the virus.
Also is an increase in testing. Each week, more than 70,000 people might be examined, significantly beyond the existing need, according to Walensky. She noted that the government has launched a campaign to inform doctors and gay and bisexual men about the illness.
In the United States, health officials will be able to control the outbreak before it spreads to other countries, according to RTI International researcher Donal Bisanzio.
But he also added that it wouldn’t end there. As more Americans are exposed to those who have the disease in other nations where monkeypox is still a problem, new outbreaks of cases will likely appear.
Walensky concurs that such an event is probable. Travelers constantly run the risk of causing flare-ups if it isn’t contained globally, she added.
Since the outbreak has so far been confined to men who have sex with men, Shawn Kiernan of the Fairfax County Health Department in Virginia said there is reason to be cautiously optimistic.
Before the virus is generally identified, a “tipping point” that could happen is when it spreads to heterosexual persons, according to Kiernan, chief of the department’s infectious disease branch.
Dr. Edward Hook III, retired professor of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, stated that spillover into heterosexuals is only a matter of time.
For health officials and doctors already battling to keep up with existing STDs, monkeypox might become an endemic sexually transmitted illness.
Much of this work was simply put on hold during the pandemic since it has long been underfunded and understaffed. According to Kiernan, attention to common illnesses like chlamydia and gonorrhea consists of “counting cases and that’s about it,” whereas HIV and syphilis are given priority.
Cases of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis have been increasing for a long time.
Doctors “perform a horrible job, on the whole,” according to Hook, “of obtaining sexual histories, of asking about and realizing their patients as sexual beings.”
