Unusual Monkeypox Is Spreading
Media outlets report a possible case in New York, likely related to travel to Canada. Meanwhile in Montreal, 17 suspected cases were reported. Sweden, Italy, and Australia have also joined the list of nations with cases of the rare disease, which can be spread by close or intimate contact. The risk to the public remains low.
The New York Times:
Officials Report A Possible Monkeypox Case In New York
Days after unusual clusters of the rare monkeypox virus emerged in Europe, New York City health authorities announced on Thursday that they were investigating a possible case of the rare disease. The authorities said little about the patient, who is currently in isolation at Bellevue Hospital, according to a statement from the city health department. The patient arrived to the hospital Thursday, according to one official. (Goldstein, 5/19)
CIDRAP:
US Tracks Monkeypox Case Tied To Recent Canadian Travel
But the current case and more than two dozen cases in Europe do not involve recent travel to endemic countries. Instead, community spread is suspected among men who have sex with men, suggesting close sexual and personal contact is behind the recent uptick in cases. "Many of these global reports of monkeypox cases are occurring within sexual networks. However, healthcare providers should be alert to any rash that has features typical of monkeypox," said Inger Damon, MD, PhD, a poxvirus expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a press release. "We're asking the public to contact their healthcare provider if they have a new rash and are concerned about monkeypox." (Soucheray, 5/19)
Stat:
17 Suspected Monkeypox Cases Are Reported In Montreal
Health officials in Montreal on Thursday said they were investigating 17 suspected cases of monkeypox in the area, likely adding Canada to the list of countries in the Americas and Europe that are reporting recent infections. Most of the cases were in men in their 30s to 50s. The Montreal officials also said they had found links between some of their suspected cases and the first infection found in the United States, a Massachusetts man who had recently traveled to Canada by car. Separately, New York City health officials said later Thursday they were investigating a possible monkeypox case. No details were provided about the patient. (Joseph, 5/19)
The Straits Times:
Sweden Confirms First Monkeypox Case, France Has Suspected Infection
Sweden has reported its first monkeypox case, after the UK, Spain, Portugal, the United States and Canada reported infections. A first suspected case of the virus on French territory has been detected in the Paris/Ile-de-France region as well, the French Health Ministry said on Thursday (May 19), amid signs of the virus spreading around the world. (5/20)
Reuters:
Italy Reports First Case Of Monkeypox Infection, Two More Suspected
Italy has diagnosed its first case of the monkeypox infection at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome, the hospital said on Thursday, adding that the person, who arrived from a stay on the Canary Islands, was being kept in isolation. (5/19)
Reuters:
Australia Reports First Monkeypox Case In Traveller From Britain
Australia on Friday reported its first monkeypox case in a traveler who recently returned from Britain, while a probable case of infection was identified with testing being carried out to confirm it. A man in his 30s who arrived in Melbourne on Monday has the virus, Victoria state's health department said, while the probable case was identified in Sydney in a man in his 40s who had recently travelled to Europe. (5/20)
More on monkeypox —
The Boston Globe:
Monkeypox Is Not Highly Contagious, Scientists Say. So Why Is It Suddenly In Nine Countries?
More than 100 confirmed and suspected cases across nine countries have been reported as of late Thursday by HealthMap, a team of researchers, epidemiologists, and software developers at Boston Children’s Hospital that provides real-time surveillance of emerging public health threats. The first case was confirmed in England on May 6. There are now nine cases in the United Kingdom, at least 29 in Portugal, and 17 in Canada, as well as cases in Spain, France, Sweden, Italy, and Belgium. The Boston case is the first to be identified in the United States. On Thursday, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said it was investigating a second suspected case. Also on Thursday, Montreal officials said they had found links between some of their suspected cases and the Massachusetts case, who reported traveling to Canada before falling ill. (Lazar, 5/19)
ABC News:
Monkeypox Cases Detected In US, Europe, But Experts Caution Against Comparing It To COVID-19
Health experts stress the risk to the public remains low and most people don't need to be immediately fearful of contracting the illness."It is a virus in a very different class from COVID-19," Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, told ABC News. "It predominantly lives in animal reservoirs so it sort of by accident gets to humans and it may cause sporadic illness or relatively small outbreaks." (Kekatos, 5/19)
NBC News:
The Symptoms And Causes Of Monkeypox Infections, Which CDC Calls An 'Emerging Issue'
Although monkeypox does not spread easily between people, the CDC is preparing for additional cases in the U.S., said Dr. Agam Rao, a medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology. "We are telling people this is an emerging issue," she said. "Some emerging issues end up becoming benign in the end. Other ones escalate. As an emerging issue, we’re asking people to keep it top of mind at the moment." (Bendix, 5/19)
Stat:
A CDC Expert Answers Questions On Monkeypox
Monkeypox, a disease that rarely shows up outside a belt of countries across Central and West Africa, has exploded into the news recently, with cases reported in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, the United States, Sweden, Italy, and likely Canada. At this point, the cases are mainly being detected by clinics that treat sexually transmitted diseases and are being seen in men who have sex with men. But the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have cautioned that to assume the virus is only circulating in a single subset of the population risks missing cases that may be occurring among other people. (Branswell, 5/19)
