The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that nine cases of Monkeypox have been identified in seven states.
In a press briefing Thursday, Walensky said the nine cases were from Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Utah, Washington, California, and Virginia. Most of the nine cases had recent international travel to areas with active monkeypox cases, but not all.There is active contact tracing that is happening right now to understand whether or not these cases were in contact with each other or with other countries.
On Monday, the CDC reported five cases from four states and all of them had recent travel history. Health experts expect more cases to be identified as awareness of the disease grows and health officials trace contacts of known cases.
Most of the nine cases are in men who identify as gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men, similar to what health officials elsewhere are seeing.
AdvertisementWalensky said that the community has the strength and has demonstrated the ability to address challenges to their health by focusing on compassion and science.
Walensky emphasized that the response to the current outbreak should be guided by science, not by stigma. She said that infectious diseases are not contained within social networks and that the risk of exposure is not limited to any one group. The case in Virginia is about a woman who recently traveled to an African country.
There are a relatively small number of cases in the US that are linked to a growing outbreak in Europe. There are an additional 73 suspected cases worldwide.
The risk of monkeypox to the general population is very low according to health experts. It is difficult to spread the virus among people. Family members and health workers who care for them are at greatest risk. Treatments and vaccines are available to fight monkeypox. Those options are being offered to healthcare workers and other contacts of the known cases. Treatments and vaccines have been used in several states.
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