Covid Quickly is a scientific American series.
This is a quick update on the COVID epidemic. We will show you the science behind the most important questions about the disease. We help you understand the research.
The person is named Lewis, he is also known as Tanya Lewis.
Josh Fischman is my name.
We are Scientific American's senior health editors.
We are going to take a look at the U.S. response to monkeypox, as well as what it is, how it spreads, and what vaccines and treatments are out there.
We will look at attempts to get a better handle on this confusing and poorly defined disease.
There are no comments at this time.
There is a new virus in town and it is called monkeypox. A public health emergency has been declared by the U.S. Do you think we should be concerned?
Lewis said that monkeypox is not a new disease. The monkeypox virus can cause less severe disease. Humans have been infecting each other in Central and West Africa.
It began to spread among people in Europe, the U.S. and other countries. The current outbreak appears to be mostly in men who have sex with men, compared to previous ones in children or people who had contact with animals. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has declared a health emergency because there are more than 10,000 cases in the US alone.
How is it transmitted and what are the symptoms?
The virus can cause blisters on the genitals or anus that can be flu-like symptoms.
It is believed to be spread through close skin-to-skin contact. It can include through sex but not a sexually transmitted disease. It can be spread through contact with contaminated objects. It isn't as transmissible as Covid.
Can you die from being bitten by a monkey?
Most people don't die from it. In other countries, there have been a few deaths of people who were immune compromised. Most of the cases are mild or moderate and can be cleared on their own. Depending on the location of the lesions, they can be very painful. It is a disease that needs to be taken seriously.
Isn't it sounds like it? If people think they have been exposed, what should they do?
If you have a rash and think you may have been in contact with someone who has monkeypox, you should see a doctor. Initially, testing was limited to a few CDC labs, but now it's available at major labs around the country.
If you have been diagnosed with monkeypox, you should stay away from other people until your sores have healed. If you have to be near other people, wear a mask.
You might be able to get treatment or a vaccine because of the shortage of supplies. That may be changing.
There are vaccines, but they are hard to get. There is a holdup.
There are two vaccines for monkeys. The vaccine causes less side effects than other vaccines. Unlike ACAM2000, it doesn't contain a live virus that can replicate and is unsafe for people who are immune compromised.
A lot of the vaccine that the U.S. government had expired. It had a lot of vaccine that needed to be put into glass, but didn't get it from the manufacturer in time, so we have to wait for the manufacturer to fill other countries' orders. Some of the doses were stored in a facility that the FDA didn't inspect.
There are a lot of major screwups.
It is frustrating. Gay health advocates have said that the response has been very upsetting. It's not enough vaccine for states and territories. Federal authorities have come up with a way to stretch out the doses.
What will they do to do that?
The FDA has given the go-ahead to give the vaccine one-fifth of a normal dose. According to some research, it can be given as a shallow injection into the skin, which will produce the same immune response as a traditional injection under the skin.
Some experts don't believe that all health care providers will be able to do it correctly. It means we can now give the vaccine to more people.
At least that is a beginning. Treatments, what about them?
TPOXX is a drug that can be used to fight infections. Doctors can request it for monkeypox patients even though it is FDA approved for smallpox. Only patients at risk of severe disease are eligible for this program. The process has been made simpler by federal agencies. An emergency authorization could be issued by the FDA.
It seems like we made a lot of the same mistakes as before.
The early days of the monkeypox outbreak felt very similar to the early days of the COVID epidemic. The epidemic spread undetected because of a lack of testing. The government has made monkeypox testing more accessible.
We should have been up to date with the vaccine for monkeypox. There was an approved vaccine and lots of it. Millions of doses were wasted because of a lack of urgentness. The U.S. ran out of vaccine quickly. We have to split the dose so that we have enough.
There are some good news. The emergency declaration should make more resources available to test, treat and vaccine people because health authorities seem to be taking monkeypox seriously now. There is still time for this outbreak to be under control or for monkeypox to become an endemic disease here.
There are no comments at this time.
It's still a big problem. Its persistence continues to puzzle scientists. There are more than 100 different symptoms associated with it.
It's difficult for doctors to get a handle on the illness and how to treat it because it's so wide. Difficult breathing, brain fog, skin problems, heart problems, terrible fatigue, and more are some of the symptoms. The problems begin after someone is done with the acute stage of COVID. There are differing estimates of how common Covid is.
It would be helpful if doctors knew what the core symptoms were.
Researchers have been trying to zero in on that core. Scientists gave detailed symptom questionnaires to over 12,000 people in the Netherlands. Some of these people had tested positive for carbon dioxide and some didn't. The scientists were able to say that some symptoms were linked to an original infections.
If you didn't have long COVID to begin with, your symptoms wouldn't be related to it.
That's right, Fischman. The scientists came up with a core list of physical problems after removing the uninfected people from consideration. There were also a lump in throat, hot and cold flashes, heavy arms or legs, and general fatigue. More than 13 percent of the group had at least one problem.
Brain fog and trouble thinking, what about that? People complain about those.
That's a hole in the study. They didn't take into account cognitive symptoms. Only physical things. Scientists from King's College London looked above the neck of 1500 patients. A preliminary article that hasn't yet gone through peer review was just released as a preprints. The scientists found that the most common symptoms were headaches and deep fatigue. Those should be added to the list.
Lewis thinks that the list is evolving. A small amount of fluid.
It's true, according to Fischman. It would be a marker for the condition if it was more solid. It's possible that one turned up. The spikeprotein from the coronaviruses is still in people's blood months after they were supposedly cleared of the disease.
The scientists found the spikes in a small group of patients. The spike remnants might not cause symptoms. They might be a sign of a hidden pocket of infections. If this does turn out to be a reliable marker of long-term disease, it could be a big step towards identifying patients and helping them.
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