DALLAS, Texas (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Monkeypox – it’s an unfamiliar virus that’s spreading everywhere, prompting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency. While the CDC cautions gay and bisexual men that they may be at highest risk, other health experts say everyone, including kids, should take steps to avoid the spread.
The 2022 monkeypox outbreak started with a cluster in the United Kingdom May 6th, and two weeks later, the first case was reported in the United States. Now, it has been reported in every single state.
Internal medicine doctor, David Winter, MD at Baylor Scott & White Health, says, “The concern is how do we stop it? There’s a vaccine out there that does work, but in very short supply, hard to come by.”
And once you get it, how do you treat it?
“There’s an antiviral pill that also helps, called T-POXX, which is also in short supply right now, hard to come by,” Dr. Winter explains.
T-POXX is classified as an investigational drug for monkeypox. It was initially created in case of a bio terrorist smallpox attack. People who have taken a two-week course of the antiviral pills say they feel better within two days. But the government warns they only have 1.7 million courses in their national stockpile.
Dr. Winter further explains, “T-POXX is a medication [that]stops the replication, stops a duplication of the virus in your body. So, it’s very effective – if you can get one.”
Because monkeypox and smallpox share similar symptoms, Tembexa is another FDA-approved anti-viral – first approved to treat smallpox. But experts fear that as kids head back to school, the spread will only get worse.
“I think we should teach the kids that no more hugging, no high fiving, no wrestling on the school grounds right now, because that’s the way you can spread this particular disease,” Dr. Winter cautions.
Experts say prevention really is the best way to handle it, right now – avoiding skin-to-skin contact. It’s important to note that U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved any therapies specifically for the treatment of monkeypox.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer & Editor.
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Sources:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-29/as-monkeypox-spreads-kids-can-get-monkeypox-too
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/04/monkeypox-gay-safe-sex/
https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/05/19/monkeypox-massachusetts-first-us-case-rare-disease
https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: MONKEYPOX: STOPPING THE SPREAD
REPORT: MB #5105
BACKGROUND: Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus is part of the same family of viruses as variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder, and monkeypox is rarely fatal. Monkeypox is not related to chickenpox. The U.S. has detected the most monkeypox cases out of any country — more than a third higher than the cases detected in the next highest country, Spain. But when this tally is considered per population — a more accurate measure because it takes into account America’s much larger head count — the U.S. ranks eighth, with 21 cases per million people. That’s equivalent to one in 47,000 people having a confirmed infection to date. Conversely, in Spain, the number is 96 per million or one in 10,000, also higher than every American state.
(Source: https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/about.html
DIAGNOSING: Monkeypox has a long incubation time. That means it can take four to 21 days to produce illness after someone has been exposed to the virus. The symptoms start with a general, all-over feeling of being ill. Then, fever and muscle aches develop with flu-like symptoms, lymph nodes become swollen. A few days later, a blister-like rash appears that looks like chickenpox. This may begin on the face and spread elsewhere on the body, or if sexually acquired, may begin in the genital or anal areas. A health care professional can identify monkeypox with a blood test or by looking under a microscope at a sample of fluid swabbed from the rash. Because the disease is rare, your doctor may need to rule out other, more common rash-producing illnesses such as chickenpox, measles, or syphilis.
NEW TECHNOLOGY: Tecovirimat is an antiviral drug that was approved for the treatment of smallpox disease under a regulation known as the “Animal Rule.” This pathway allows for approval of drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions when it is not ethical to conduct efficacy studies in humans and not feasible to conduct field trials to study the effectiveness of a drug or biologic product. Under the Animal Rule, efficacy is established on the basis of adequate and well-controlled studies in animal models of the human disease or condition of interest; safety must be adequately evaluated in people.
(Source: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2210125)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Deke Jones
(214) 820-6722
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