2022 monkeypox outbreak

The 2022 monkeypox outbreak is an ongoing outbreak of monkeypox. It was confirmed on 6 May 2022 in the United Kingdom, beginning with a British homosexual who had travelled to Nigeria, where the disease is endemic, who while there presented symptoms consistent with monkeypox on 29 April 2022.

Quotes

• An announcement on the new name would be made "as soon as possible", said Tedros.
  • Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus WHO to rename monkeypox virus to avoid discrimination (June 15, 2022).

• The probability of containment is diminishing daily. It's really unfortunate because we do have the tools. This is not an unknown virus. … We have vaccines that are already available, even vaccines with indications for monkeypox. Therapeutics. And we know what's needed to be done.
  • Anne Rimoin, monkeypox expert at UCLA, in Helen Branswell, "With monkeypox spreading globally, many experts believe the virus can't be contained", Statnews (July 19, 2022).

• Right now we just don't have nearly enough vaccine to even begin to have a measurable impact on widespread global transmission. There's going to be a lot of frustrated people who want to get vaccine where it won't be available.
  • Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, in Helen Branswell, "With monkeypox spreading globally, many experts believe the virus can't be contained", Statnews (July 19, 2022).

• Declaring a PHEIC makes governments and the global public sit up and take notice. It raises the political stakes for government leaders, and it raises the level of accountability for them to act.
  • Lawrence Gostin, on the United Nations declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern for monkeypox. In Will Sullivan, "WHO Declares Monkeypox a Global Health Emergency", Smithsonian Magazine (July 26, 2022).

• Public health officials reject comparisons to the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when they mandated masks and shut down public spaces. They noted that the novel coronavirus was unfamiliar, far deadlier and airborne, with hospitals overrun with patients at various points over the past two years. Monkeypox has known treatments and vaccines, although they have been challenging to access; it also has not killed anyone in the United States, and hospitalizations are uncommon.
  • Nirappil, Fenit; Jayakumar, Amrita (August 4, 2022). "As monkeypox strikes gay men, officials debate warnings to limit partners". The Washington Post. Retrieved on August 6, 2022. 

• We are prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously.
  • Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, "White House declares monkeypox a public health emergency", NPR (August 4, 2022).

External Links

• Encyclopedic article on 2022 monkeypox outbreak on Wikipedia