Category: Monkeypox
The end of smallpox was … the beginning for mpox
NPR It all started with an unremarkable trip to grandma’s house in 1970. But two days into the visit, something went terribly wrong. The 9-month-old grandson fell ill. First, a fever. Then, a nasty rash. Alarmed doctors suspected smallpox but, instead, they soon discovered something even more bewildering: The first-known human case of monkeypox, now called […]
Oct 8, 2024
Race to combat mpox misinformation as vaccine rollout in DRC begins
Guardian For doctors and nurses fighting mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus itself is not the only enemy. They are also facing swirling rumours and misinformation. The first of millions of promised doses of mpox vaccine have finally started to arrive. Now the focus is on ensuring that people who need them will take them […]
Oct 2, 2024
The majority of mpox cases can’t be tracked
Devex Health responders are largely not able to track how the virus is moving from person to person as cases steadily increase across the African continent. As cases of mpox steadily increase across the African continent, some 68% of them don’t have an epidemiological link — meaning they’re popping up among people that health workers aren’t […]
Oct 2, 2024
The Current International Mpox Emergency and the U.S. Role: An Explainer
KFF Major outbreaks of mpox – the infectious disease previously called monkeypox – are ongoing in a number of African countries, in particular the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In addition, several mpox cases linked to the DRC outbreak have now been identified in some non-African countries, including Sweden and Thailand. Due to these […]
Oct 2, 2024
Sex workers find themselves at the center of Congo’s mpox outbreak
AP It’s been four months since Sifa Kunguja recovered from mpox, but as a sex worker, she said, she’s still struggling to regain clients, with fear and stigma driving away people who’ve heard she had the virus. “It’s risky work,” Kunguja, 40, said from her small home in eastern Congo. “But if I don’t work, I […]
Oct 2, 2024
Mpox cases in L.A. County on the rise, Public Health warns
KTLA News The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is warning about a rise in mpox cases in the Los Angeles area and urging those at the highest risk of transmission to get vaccinated against the potentially serious disease. On Monday, Public Health announced that 52 cases of the disease had been reported in […]
Sep 25, 2024
India confirms first case of deadlier mpox strain
CNN India has confirmed its first case of a deadlier strain of mpox, which has raised alarm among health officials around the world over the rapid pace of its spread. The clade Ib strain of the virus was confirmed by health authorities in the southern state of Kerala after being detected last week in a 38-year-old […]
Sep 25, 2024
Almost 30,000 suspected mpox cases in Africa this year, WHO says
Reuters Nearly 30,000 suspected mpox cases have been reported in Africa so far this year, most of them in Democratic Republic of Congo where tests have run out, the World Health Organization said on Monday. More than 800 people died of suspected mpox across the continent in that time, the U.N. health body said in […]
Sep 24, 2024
STAT In August, the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and several other African countries a public health emergency of international concern. This is the second time in two years that mpox, formerly called monkeypox, has been listed as a PHEIC. In 2022, mpox spread through multiple […]
Sep 18, 2024
NIH releases mpox research agenda
NIH Plan will advance knowledge of virus biology to improve detection, treatment and prevention.As part of the U.S. government response to the current mpox outbreak(link is external), the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has released an update on its priorities for mpox research. The NIAID mpox research agenda focuses […]
Sep 18, 2024