Enlarge / 2003 photo of the arms and legs of a 4-year-old girl infected with monkeypox in Liberia.
Monkeypox is thought to have spread to the United States, and nine cases have now been identified in seven states, according to Rochelle Valenski, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At a news briefing Thursday, Valenski said the nine cases were from Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Utah, Washington, California and Virginia. Most of the nine cases have had recent international trips to areas with active cases of monkeypox, but not all.
“We have to assume that there is some spread in the community,” Valenski said. “But there is active follow-up of contacts that is happening now to find out if and how these cases may have been in contact with each other or with others in other countries.”
On Monday, the CDC reported five cases (one confirmed and four probable) from four states, and all cases reportedly had a recent travel history. Health experts expect more cases to be identified as awareness of the infection grows and health professionals monitor contacts with known cases.
As before, almost all of the nine cases involve men who identify as gay, bisexual or have men who have sex with men, reflecting what health workers elsewhere see amid the current multinational epidemic.
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“This is a community that has strength and demonstrates the ability to tackle the challenges of health by focusing on compassion and science,” Valenski said, referring to the response to the AIDS epidemic.
Valenski stressed that the response to the current outbreak should be “guided by science, not stigma”. Although some groups may be at higher risk of infection, the virus infects indiscriminately. “Infectious diseases are not found on social media and the risk of exposure is not limited to any particular group,” she said. The case in Virginia, for example, involves a woman who recently traveled to an African country.
The relatively small number of cases in the United States is related to a growing outbreak affecting more than 20 countries, most of them in Europe. Unofficial figures include 320 confirmed cases and another 73 suspected cases worldwide.
However, health experts essentially see the risk of monkeypox for the general population as very low. The virus does not spread easily among humans, and its transmission requires prolonged close contact. As such, family members of infected people and the health care workers who care for them are most at risk. There are also effective antiviral treatments and vaccines to combat monkeypox. Healthcare professionals in the United States offer these options to healthcare professionals and other contacts with known cases. The treatment and vaccines have already been used in California, Florida and Massachusetts, CDC officials said Thursday.
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