President Biden says ‘everyone’ should be worried about monkeypox

President Joe Biden has said “everyone” should be concerned about the spread of monkeypox, contradicting comments by CDC officials who have urged calm among the American public with a confirmed case and another suspected case now on US soil.

The president addressed the global surge in cases of the rare infectious disease for the first time on Sunday when he boarded Air Force One to fly from South Korea to Japan for the next leg of his Asia visit.

“I haven’t been told the level of exposure yet, but it’s something everyone should be concerned about,” he told reporters.

“It is a concern that, if it were to spread, would have consequences.”

Biden said US officials are “working hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine, if any, might be available.”

An effective vaccine against the monkeypox virus exists and the Biden administration has already taken steps to bring supply to the US.

Biotech company Bavarian Nordic revealed this week that the US government had placed a $119 million order for its Jynneos vaccine.

Another $180 million is also ready and waiting for more vaccines if or when they are needed, together allowing the country to procure 13 million doses for the American people.

The Jynneos vaccine is a smallpox vaccine and is already licensed for use against smallpox in the US.

According to the CDC, the smallpox vaccine is at least 85 percent effective against monkeypox.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday that the US has vaccines available to treat a potential outbreak.

Of Biden’s knowledge of the matter, he said, “He’s being briefed on this very regularly.”

The president’s comments come after CDC official Jennifer McQuiston said “the general public should not be concerned” about the sudden increase in infections of this rare disease.

The deputy director of the Division of Pathology and High Consequence Pathogens within the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases said CNN Thursday that the appearance of cases in countries where monkeypox does not originate “is a very unusual situation” but that there was “no immediate risk” to the public.

“Monkeypox is normally only reported in West Africa or Central Africa, and we don’t see it in the United States or Europe, and the number of cases being reported is definitely off the normal range from what we would see. ” she said.

“At the same time, there really aren’t that many cases being reported, I think maybe a dozen, a couple dozen, so the general public shouldn’t be concerned about the immediate risk of getting monkeypox.”

On Friday, New York City health officials announced that a patient had tested positive for a virus related to monkeypox.

The city’s health department tested two patients for monkeypox, one of whom was ruled negative, while the second tested positive for Orthopoxvirus, the family of viruses to which monkeypox belongs.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Public Health Laboratory said in a news release Friday that final confirmation of the person’s diagnosis will be made after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) complete their testing.

Until then, the patient is in isolation and is presumed positive, likely making him the second known case on US soil this year after a man in Massachusetts became the first confirmed case on Wednesday.

New York’s health department revealed Thursday that a possible case had been admitted to Bellevue Hospital, in the heart of Manhattan, exhibiting symptoms.

It’s unclear if this individual is the presumptive positive or negative case, but even before preliminary tests came back, officials said contact tracing was already underway to locate anyone who might have been in close contact with them. .

While the CDC urges Americans not to panic, the city’s health agency urges Covid-weary New Yorkers to wear face masks indoors.

The agency said masks can protect against monkeypox and other viruses such as covid-19, while anyone with flu-like symptoms, swollen lymph nodes and rashes on the face and body should contact with your health care provider.

Although monkeypox is rarer, less transmissible and vaccines are available, health officials want to prevent a repeat of the Covid-19 crisis, which has paralyzed the city’s health system.

In the early days of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, New York City quickly became the global epicenter of the virus, with 815 lives lost in a single day in April of that year.

Hospitals were on the brink of collapse as health care workers found themselves overwhelmed with sick patients and bodies piled up in refrigerated trucks across the city.

Covid-19 cases are on the rise once again in Manhattan, with all of New York City reaching the highest risk level for the virus this week.

Nationwide, the CDC is also investigating at least six other possible cases of monkeypox after people sat near an infected traveler on a flight from Nigeria to the UK earlier this month.

The CDC said none of the six individuals have symptoms of monkeypox. They are said to be healthy and at low risk of infection.

The New York patient appears not to be included in the six.

This comes after a Massachusetts man became the first confirmed case on US soil this year.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced Wednesday the case of the man who had recently returned from a trip to Canada, where he had traveled by private transportation.

The patient is in good condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The state agency said there is “no risk to the public” and that it is working closely with the CDC and other health officials to identify anyone who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious.

Worldwide, there have been 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases since cases began to emerge in countries that normally don’t report infections in early May, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Outside the US, cases have been reported in Canada, the UK, Australia, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and Italy.

On Saturday, Sweden and Israel reported their first confirmed cases, which are not yet included in the WHO tally.

The WHO is now holding daily emergency meetings around the world, with an emergency meeting held on Friday between the committee responsible for advising on infection risks that could pose a threat to global health.

It is not yet clear what led to the sudden spike in cases or how people were exposed to the rare infection.

The virus can spread through close contact with an infected person or animal through respiratory droplets, body fluids, or other forms of close contact, such as sharing clothing.

Experts are currently exploring a possible spread of sexual transmission after recently confirmed cases included men who said they had been sexually active with other men.

Symptoms are said to be similar to smallpox and include fever, headache, chills, muscle aches, exhaustion, rashes, and lesions.

After about one to three days of fever, the patient usually develops a rash on the face before it spreads to other parts of the body. Injuries to the body go through several stages before finally falling off.

The main difference between the symptoms of smallpox and monkeypox is that monkeypox causes the lymph nodes to swell, according to the CDC.

In most cases, symptoms are mild, but the virus has been fatal in one in 10 cases in Africa.

Monkeypox was first detected in monkeys in 1958 when two outbreaks of a smallpox-like disease were detected in specimens kept for research.

The first human case was then recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970.

In 2003, cases of human monkeypox were detected on US soil, the first confirmed outside of Africa, when the nation witnessed an outbreak in six states.

In all, 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.

All of the patients contracted the infection after coming into contact with prairie dogs that had been around small mammals imported from Ghana, according to the CDC.

Last year, two cases of the infection were reported in the US. The latest was in November, when an American tested positive after returning to Maryland from Nigeria.

In July, another case was confirmed in Texas in a US citizen who had also traveled from Nigeria to the United States on two commercial flights.

In both cases, no additional infections were detected in the US after contact tracing by health officials.