Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
WHO Encouraged By Monkeypox Case Trends
The Hill: WHO: Declining Monkeypox Cases Prove Outbreak Can Be Stopped Or Even Eliminated
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that the recent decline in monkeypox cases that has been observed in North America and Europe is evidence that the current outbreak can be stopped or eliminated outright. (Choi, 9/2)
NBC News: Monkeypox Cases Are Falling, But Experts Warn That The Outbreak Is Not Over
The number of new monkeypox cases in the United States has fallen by 40% since early August — a signal that the country's outbreak could be abating. According to an NBC News analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the seven-day average of new reported cases decreased from a daily average of 465 on Aug. 10, to 281 on Aug. 31. (Edwards, Murphy and Kopf, 9/1)
Fox News: US Reports At Least 30 Kids Test Positive For Monkeypox
Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that there are nine pediatric cases in the state. The Florida Department of Health shows three cases in kids under the age of 4, including one in Brevard County, another in Martin and one in Monroe. (Musto, 9/1)
On tracking the virus —
CNN: Wastewater Surveillance Becomes More Targeted In Search For Polio, Monkeypox And Covid-19
Early in the coronavirus pandemic, health officials closely monitored sewage samples for signs of the virus to track where it could be circulating. Now, that technique is being used to detect other infectious diseases: polio and monkeypox. Some disease detectives in the United States are narrowing their wastewater surveillance efforts to zero in on specific buildings and to identify hot spots for a growing list of diseases. (Howard, 9/5)
Axios: Monkeypox Outbreak Poses Communication Challenge As Cases Rise In Colorado
The initial information shared by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment drew backlash from the state employee union for being misleading because it suggested it only spread between gay men, the Colorado Sun reports. In the latest public briefing, officials didn't use the name monkeypox, instead calling it MPV (short for the monkeypox virus). (Frank, 9/6)
On monkeypox vaccine and research —
Politico: The Biden Administration Is Gambling That A Little-Studied Vaccine Can Stop Monkeypox
Since monkeypox began its unprecedented spread through the nation in May, more than 352,600 people in the U.S. have placed their trust in a vaccine that has never undergone trials to evaluate how well it fights the virus in humans. The vaccine was designed to prevent smallpox, a related virus, and studies conducted by its Danish manufacturer have shown it works against monkeypox too, in animals. (Mahr, 9/6)
Bloomberg: Monkeypox Vaccine Study Raises Questions About Protection
The monkeypox vaccine that’s become the main method doctors use to try to stop the global scourge may be less potent than hoped, new research shows. (Gale and Muller, 9/2)
Becker's Hospital Review: Monkeypox May Cause Heart Muscle Inflammation, Case Report Finds
A patient with a monkeypox infection in Portugal developed myocarditis, or heart muscle inflammation, a week after the onset of monkeypox symptoms, researchers said in a case report published Sept. 2. (Carbajal, 9/2)
Bloomberg: Kids With Liver Damage, Polio, Monkeypox, Tomato Flu: Viruses Are Behaving Badly
“Viruses have been doing strange things since the Covid pandemic started,” Sarah Pitt, a principal lecturer in the University of Brighton’s school of applied sciences, wrote in a recent article about a freaky tomato-shaped rash in India. Turns out, it wasn’t an exotic new pathogen, but Coxsackie A16, a common cause of hand, foot and mouth disease. (Gale, 9/5)
