https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/19/monk...contained/
INTRO: It has been a mere nine weeks since the United Kingdom announced it had detected four cases of monkeypox, a virus endemic only in West and Central Africa. In that time, the number of cases has mushroomed to nearly 13,000 in over 60 countries throughout Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, new parts of Africa, South Asia, and Australia.
The growth in cases and the geographic spread has been rapid and relentless. Now, even as global health officials race to curb spread of the virus, most experts polled by STAT said they don’t believe it will be possible to contain it.
“I think we missed that train at this point,” said Gary Kobinger, director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and a member of an expert committee that advises the World Health Organization’s Emergencies Program.
The view is equally grim from clinics that diagnose sexually transmitted infections, which have been on the frontlines for monkeypox detection given that the virus is primarily spreading among men who have sex with men in the United States, U.K., and a number of other countries.
“The STI field is preparing for the long haul here,” said David C. Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, an organization that represents sexual health clinics. “We think, unfortunately, that monkeypox may become endemic among the MSM community.”
Not everyone is categorical — or pessimistic.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Rosamund Lewis, the World Health Organization’s technical lead on monkeypox, expressed the belief that with a lot of effort, transmission in the population of men who have sex with men can be stopped... (MORE - details)
INTRO: It has been a mere nine weeks since the United Kingdom announced it had detected four cases of monkeypox, a virus endemic only in West and Central Africa. In that time, the number of cases has mushroomed to nearly 13,000 in over 60 countries throughout Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, new parts of Africa, South Asia, and Australia.
The growth in cases and the geographic spread has been rapid and relentless. Now, even as global health officials race to curb spread of the virus, most experts polled by STAT said they don’t believe it will be possible to contain it.
“I think we missed that train at this point,” said Gary Kobinger, director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and a member of an expert committee that advises the World Health Organization’s Emergencies Program.
The view is equally grim from clinics that diagnose sexually transmitted infections, which have been on the frontlines for monkeypox detection given that the virus is primarily spreading among men who have sex with men in the United States, U.K., and a number of other countries.
“The STI field is preparing for the long haul here,” said David C. Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, an organization that represents sexual health clinics. “We think, unfortunately, that monkeypox may become endemic among the MSM community.”
Not everyone is categorical — or pessimistic.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Rosamund Lewis, the World Health Organization’s technical lead on monkeypox, expressed the belief that with a lot of effort, transmission in the population of men who have sex with men can be stopped... (MORE - details)