Monkeypox Case Trends Hint At Progress In Curbing Spread
Globally, new reported cases declined 21% in the last week, though the World Health Organization says that numbers are still steeply climbing in the Americas. Officials in San Francisco and Los Angeles are also seeing signs that the outbreak is slowing in those areas.
AP:
WHO: Monkeypox Cases Drop 21%, Reversing Month-Long Increase
The number of monkeypox cases reported globally dropped 21% in the last week, reversing a month-long trend of rising infections and signaling that Europe’s outbreak may be starting to decline, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The U.N. health agency reported 5,907 new weekly cases and said two countries, Iran and Indonesia, reported their first cases. To date, more than 45,000 monkeypox cases have been reported in 98 countries since late April. (8/25)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Monkeypox: SF ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ Outbreak Is Slowing Down
After about two months of rapid spread, San Francisco appears to be turning a corner on monkeypox, with early data showing the local epidemic may be slowing down. The number of new cases reported each week hit a high of 143 the week of July 24 and has tapered each week since, first to 87 cases, then 54 and then, last week, to fewer than five, according to figures provided by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. (Ho, 8/24)
Los Angeles Times:
Monkeypox Cases Begin To Slow In L.A. County
“Although a month ago we were seeing a doubling of monkeypox cases in as few as nine days, we are now seeing a leveling in the number of new cases per week. And our doubling time has increased to 16 days,” said Dr. Rita Singhal, chief medical officer for the L.A. County Department of Public Health. (Toohey, Lin II and Money, 8/25)
More on the spread of monkeypox —
CIDRAP:
Monkeypox Epicenter Moves From Europe To Americas
Today World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said monkeypox transmission has dropped in Europe, which was the initial epicenter of the current outbreak, but now rising cases are rising in the Americas, making the region the main hot spot. … Following the United States, Spain, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the Netherlands, and Peru have the most cases, accounting for 88.9% of the global case count. (Soucheray, 8/25)
Bloomberg:
Monkeypox Virus Mushrooms Into Global Contagion In Just Four Months
From just a handful of infections in early May, monkeypox has escalated into a global public health emergency, with more than 45,000 cases scattered across 100 or more countries, mostly in Europe and North America. (Gale and Pong, 8/26)
Columbus Dispatch:
Ohio Launches Monkeypox Case Dashboard
The Ohio Department of Health launched an online monkeypox dashboard on Thursday showing where cases are around the state. The map and data is at odh.ohio.gov (Wu, 8/25)
Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Women, Heterosexual Men Now Eligible For Monkeypox Vaccines In Virginia
The Virginia Department of Health announced Thursday that it would expand eligibility for the Jynneos shot to women and heterosexual men, aligning its policy with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Kolenich, 8/25)
Dr. Fauci weighs in on the monkeypox epidemic —
The Hill:
Fauci Compares Monkeypox Outbreak To HIV Epidemic, Advises Against Making The Same Assumptions
The White House’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci advised against making the same assumptions about the current monkeypox outbreak that were made during the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Fauci and H. Clifford Lane, deputy director for clinical research and special projects at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), published a piece in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday in which they reflected on the similarities between the monkeypox outbreak and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which both men spent much of their careers studying. (Choi, 8/25)
New England Journal of Medicine:
Monkeypox — Past As Prologue
If one compares the situations at the start of the AIDS, Covid-19, and current global monkeypox outbreaks, certain interesting similarities and differences are apparent. (H. Clifford Lane, MD, and Anthony S. Fauci, MD, 8/25)
Also, a virus with blisters that resemble monkeypox is spreading in India —
The Washington Post:
What Is Tomato Flu, The New Viral Infection Spreading In India?
A new, highly contagious viral infection that has been dubbed “tomato flu” is spreading among children in India, the country’s Health Ministry said this week. … The infection gets its name from the “eruption of red and painful blisters throughout the body that gradually enlarge to the size of a tomato,” according to an article published last week in the British medical journal Lancet. The blisters resemble those seen on young monkeypox patients. The disease — which appears to spread through close contact and is not considered life-threatening — could be an aftereffect of chikungunya or dengue rather than a viral infection, according to the article. (Jeong, 8/25)
CNBC:
Tomato Flu: Indian Health Advisory For Rare Virus Infecting Children
The emergence of a rare, new viral infection afflicting young children has prompted health authorities in India to issue a health advisory after more than 100 cases were discovered in the country. (Gilchrist, 8/26)
