As the US struggles to fully squash the coronavirus pandemic, increasing cases of monkeypox across the globe are causing concern among health officials.
Monkeypox is the disease caused by the monkeypox virus, and in the same family of viruses as smallpox. Its symptoms are similar to smallpox but generally milder and it’s rarely fatal, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms include fever, body aches, chills, and fatigue, as well as the potential for painful, spot-like bumps to develop on parts of the infected person's body. A small percentage of infected individuals can develop sepsis and other severe and potentially deadly complications. It can be spread through skin-on-skin contact but also by touching linens used by someone else infected with the virus.
Anyone can catch monkeypox so it’s important to be prepared and have all the information possible. Here's everything we know.
US monkeypox infections
As of Monday, US officials have confirmed 1,814 monkeypox cases across 45 states.
While there has been a documented concentration of monkeypox cases in the LGBT+ community, monkeypox can be spread to anyone regardless of their sexual orientation.
More than 12,000 cases have been reported in countries where the virus is not normally widespread.
No one has died in the US from monkeypox, but health officials fear the window for getting a handle on its spread may be closing.
Former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb told Insider this week that the virus could become endemic if it isn't handled soon.
"We're now at the cusp of this becoming an endemic virus, with this now become something that's persistent that we need to continue to deal with," he said.
The US response to monkeypox
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the US demand for monkeypox vaccines is outpacing the nation's supply and described the situation as "frustrating."
“I want to acknowledge that at this time the demand for vaccines from jurisdictions is higher than our current available supply, and we know that this is frustrating,” Ms Walensky said during a recent media briefing. “We anticipate an increase in cases in the coming weeks.”
Department of Health and Human Services officials said it had distributed 156,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, and distributed another 131,000 doses last week.
Last week, New York City's monkeypox vaccine appointment site reportedly crashed within minutes of going live. All available vaccine appointment slots were booked the same day it launched.
“Due to overwhelming traffic, as soon as appointments went online this afternoon, the site delivered error messages for many people who were unable to make appointments," the city said in a tweet.
The city also said it would notify residents when more shots became available.
As the current spate of US infections is disproportionately affecting the gay community, the White House has partnered with LGBT+ advocacy group GLAAD for a briefing on monkeypox. They hope to spread mitigation messages into the community through the use of social media influencers.
Is it time to worry?
Dr Kathryn H Jacobsen, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Richmond, shared her insights in a Voices piece at The Independent.
"While the monkeypox situation is certainly newsworthy, as of mid-July 2022, it did not clearly meet both of the requirements for pandemic status," she writes. "More importantly, the current evidence suggests that monkeypox is very unlikely to become a global health catastrophe even if the virus spreads and becomes pandemic."
She cautioned that monkeypox would not explode into a full-blown pandemic akin to Covid-19 because it spreads differently and is far less deadly.
"Why? First, the monkeypox virus is much less contagious than the circulating strains of coronavirus. Second, monkeypox is less deadly than Covid-19. The case fatality rate✎ EditSign during the current international outbreak is less than one death for every 1,000 adult cases, which is lower than the percentage of unvaccinated people who die after getting Covid-19," she writes. "And, third, existing vaccines will be able to help slow the spread of monkeypox in high-risk populations if problems with limited supplies can be resolved."
She ultimately concluded that "even if monkeypox is declared to be a public health emergency of international concern, it is not going to become a devastating pandemic like Covid-19."
