Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First US Health Workers Get Vaccine With Cases Of Monkeypox Rising To 9
The Boston Globe: MGH Vaccinating Workers Against Monkeypox, The First Time The Shots Have Been Used In The US
Massachusetts General Hospital this week began vaccinating a small group of workers against monkeypox — the first time the new medicine has been used in this country outside of clinical trials. The workers were in close contact with a man diagnosed with the virus and hospitalized at Mass General from May 12 to May 20. The patient was the first person in the United States to be tied to an ongoing outbreak of the rare virus in Europe and North America. Monkeypox has now been identified in nine people across seven states, including Massachusetts, Florida, Utah, Washington, California, Virginia, and New York, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Among the latest cases, reported Thursday by health officials in Virginia, is a woman who recently traveled to an area in Africa where the disease is known to occur. They said she was not infectious during travel and did not require hospitalization. (Lazar, 5/26)
NBC News: Nine Monkeypox Cases Identified In U.S.: What We Know About Each Of Them
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified nine cases of monkeypox across seven U.S. states, officials said Thursday: in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Utah, Virginia and Washington. "The U.S. has the resources we need to help us respond to monkeypox in this country right now. We've been preparing for this type of outbreak for decades," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing. (Bendix, 5/26)
Bloomberg: Treatments Are Being Sent to Nine Monkeypox Patients in US
The monkeypox outbreak in the US has expanded to include nine cases in seven states, senior health officials said Thursday, adding that the outbreak is expanding in countries where the virus does not normally circulate. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new monkeypox infections were found in Virginia, California and Washington state. Earlier this week, the agency said four cases had been identified in Massachusetts, Florida, Utah and New York. Some but not all of the US patients had recently traveled abroad. (Muller and Stein, 5/26)
The Washington Post: Monkeypox Case Reported In Virginia, CDC Says
Virginia public health officials on Thursday reported the state’s first presumed case of monkeypox, in a Northern Virginia woman who had recently traveled to an African country. The case is among nine recently identified in seven states, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters Thursday morning. The state lab identified the case, and as of Thursday afternoon, the Virginia Department of Health was awaiting CDC confirmation. (Portnoy, 5/26)
Colorado Sun: Presumptive Case Of Monkeypox Identified In Colorado
A presumptive case of monkeypox has been identified in Colorado, the state Department of Public Health and Environment announced Thursday. The infection occurred in a Denver-area man who had recently traveled from Canada, where there is an ongoing outbreak of the virus. Health officials are working to identify and monitor close contacts of the man’s, but Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist, said there is not believed to be a high risk of community transmission. “Risk to Coloradans is low,” Herlihy said. (Ingold, 5/26)
Health experts warn against stigmatizing gay and bisexual men —
Stat: Officials Scramble To Raise Monkeypox Awareness Ahead Of Pride Month
Public health authorities are scrambling to raise awareness of the growing monkeypox outbreak in advance of this weekend’s start of Pride Month celebrations. In doing so, they are trying to strike a delicate balance — getting out the message that monkeypox may currently be a risk to men who have sex with men, without stigmatizing the community by linking them to a scary-sounding virus that can infect anyone in certain circumstances. (Branswell, 5/27)
Los Angeles Times: Monkeypox Outbreak Raises Fears Of Gay Stigmatization
As mysterious cases of a rare and ominously named virus began surfacing in Europe, Germany’s disease-control center quickly told people to be on the lookout. In a May 19 alert, the agency listed telltale symptoms of monkeypox: fever, aches, a rash. Then, in a further comment that set different alarm bells ringing, the bulletin pointedly warned men who have sex with men to “seek immediate medical attention” if they detect signs of the disease. (Kirschbaum and Chu, 5/26)
More on monkeypox —
Stat: As Monkeypox Spreads, Bavarian Nordic's CEO Fields Calls For His Vaccine
As monkeypox threatens to become the latest global health concern, Bavarian Nordic has suddenly become very popular. In 2019, its Jynneos vaccine became the only shot approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to combat smallpox, as well as monkeypox, which is closely related but less severe. And now that the infectious disease is spreading quickly among countries where it is not considered endemic, a growing number of governments are reaching out to Paul Chaplin, who runs the Danish pharmaceutical company. We spoke with Chaplin about the vaccine, the potential for increasing production, and how the company might cope with access issues raised by the Covid-19 pandemic. (Silverman, 5/26)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: In 2003, Wisconsin Was The Epicenter Of A Monkeypox Outbreak. The Latest Cases Shouldn't Cause Alarm, Yet
"The average person shouldn't be worried about monkeypox. It's more about knowing when and where it's been found and monitoring your own health," said Dan Shirley, medical director for infection prevention at UW Health in Madison. "If you have anything that seems like monkeypox, report it right away." However, the outbreak should be a greater concern to public health officials, said Richard Kennedy, co-director of the vaccine research group at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "Looking back, we had the first human cases in 1970," he said. "But we didn't really see a lot of cases outside of Africa. Now we're seeing more cases outside of Africa than we have in the entire history of the disease. We need to find out why." (Johnson, 5/26)
CNBC: How To Protect Yourself Against Monkeypox, What To Do If You Catch It
A recent monkeypox outbreak across the U.S., Europe, Australia and the Middle East has baffled health experts and is raising concerns of a wider outbreak. As of Wednesday, there were 346 confirmed and suspected cases in 22 countries outside of Africa, where the virus is endemic, according to Our World in Data. It marks the first known community spread of the virus. Prior to this outbreak, cases had been linked to travel to regions where the virus is endemic or imported animals carrying the virus. (Gilchrist, 5/27)
