SCIENTISTS fear Americans are not being vigilant about the current uptick in Monkeypox cases as the World Health Organization sounds the alarm over another potential outbreak.
The warning from health professionals comes as Mpox cases continue to rise in the Democratic Republic of Congo and threaten to spread to other continents.
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A study conducted in July revealed many American citizens have forgotten about monkeypox, which saw a dramatic outbreak two years ago.
Only 5% of Americans are worried about contracting Mpox in the next three months, the study by Annenberg Science and Public Health found.
This number is way down from the 21% surveyed in 2022 when the disease was making its way across the US in July and August, reports Science Daily.
Fewer than 17% knew that Mpox was less contagious than Covid-19, down from the previously surveyed 41%.
Only a third of participants said they knew gay men were more likely to contract the disease as opposed to the 63% surveyed in 2022.
The study also shows less than half of respondents knew that there was already a vaccine to help cure the disease.
“The speed with which the public learned needed information about Mpox in the summer of 2022 was a tribute to effective communication by the public health community,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Cente.
“That same expertise should now be deployed to ensure that those at risk remember mpox’s symptoms, modes of transmission, and the protective power of vaccination.”
The ASAPH survey comes as a new, deadlier strain of the virus — dubbed clade 2 — has seen a surge in Africa.
Warning signs of the possible outbreak were first noticed in April when experts discovered an easier-to-contract strain with “pandemic potential” in the small mining town of Kamituga.
The strain is reportedly more deadly, with a fatality rate of 5% in adults and 10% in children.
Reports from the DRC indicate there have been over 29,000 cases and 1,100 fatalities — many of them children — since the beginning of 2023.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, posted on X that many experts were worried about the new strain.
Dr. Ghebreyesus said the disease has “potential for further international spread within and outside of Africa.”
The Mpox symptoms that have nothing to do with spots
The most obvious mpox symptom is the hallmark spots.
According to the NHS, these lesions go through four stages, from flat spots to raised spots, to blisters to scabs.
But people are also likely to experience flu-like symptoms, which will begin between five and 21 days after infection.
The symptoms often get better by themselves over two to four weeks.
The NHS says these include:
- Inflammation of the rectum (proctitis) – for example, pain or bleeding from your back passage
- High temperature (fever)
- Headache
- Flu-like symptoms, including muscle and back aches, shivering and tiredness
- Swollen glands that feel like new lumps (in the neck, armpits, or groin)
If you have some of these symptoms and believe you could have monkeypox, you should stay at home, avoid close contact with others and get medical help by phone until you’re assessed.
There are some complications associated with Mpox, such as bacterial infection from skin lesions, Mpox affecting the brain (encephalitis), heart (myocarditis), or lungs (pneumonia)
“I am considering convening an International Health Regulations emergency committee to advise me on whether the outbreak of Mpox should be declared a public health emergency of international concern,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for WHO told The U.S. Sun the rapid spread of Mpox and the potential of another global pandemic “are causes for concern.”
“Mpox can be contained, and human-to-human transmission eliminated, with rapid outbreak response and the right public health measures,” the WHO rep said.
Since Ghebreyesus’s warning, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that four other countries have started reporting cases of the virus, bringing the total number of infected countries to 13.
A report from the agency indicated there have been 517 virus-related deaths from the 17,541 confirmed and suspected human cases.
The African CDC has since called for “global solidarity” while asking for 10 million vaccine doses, reports Politico.
According to the agency, the country currently has only 200,000 vaccines available.
WHO specialists are slated to meet with Dr. Ghebreyesus this week to decide whether to declare the virus a public health emergency of international concern.
Those who have contracted the disease report flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.
Until recently, most Mpox cases were contained in central and west Africa.
In 2022, the WHO declared a public health emergency when a strain called clade 2 found its way to 100 countries.
In May 2022, the CDC said there had been about 32,000 confirmed cases of Mpox in the US.
Mpox in the US
Mpox was first reported in the US on May 17, 2022 and lasted through 2023.
The first severe case of Mpox was reported in Boston Massachusetts on May 17, 2022.
This case made the United States the fourth non-African country to report the infection.
According to the CDC, the spread of the infection began when a British citizen came home from a trip to Nigeria ( where the disease is endemic) and developed the symptoms.
Medical professionals deduced that the spread of the virus was primarily transferred by gay or bisexual men who slept with other men.
Professionals also stated that people of color were also primarily affected by the disease.
Scientists found that 41% of those with mpox were also HIV positive.
Over half of the cases were also concentrated in metropolitan areas such as New York, Washington DC, California, Florida, and Texas.
According to the CDC, the US had 32,063 confirmed cases of the disease with only 58 confirmed fatalities.
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