Experts fear that patients infected during the current global outbreak of monkeypox may not exhibit all of the typical symptoms of the virus, allowing some cases to go undetected.
Tuesday’s pre-print release of a Belgian study revealed that some patients tested positive for the virus at the outbreak’s onset. It comes a week after a UK study found that many patients in the current outbreak were not experiencing fatigue or a fever – symptoms that are frequently indicative of infection.
This is an indication that the strain of monkeypox currently circulating the world is likely milder than previous versions of the virus, but it also makes it easier for it to circulate undetected.
Concerns are raised that the tropical virus will become endemic outside of Africa as a result of these findings.
In the United States, 560 cases have so far been identified as part of the outbreak, though the actual number is likely to be higher due to the country’s poor surveillance.
In a study conducted in the United Kingdom and published on Friday in The Lancet, 54 men who have sex with other men were examined for possible monkeypox infection.
None had a recent history of travel to a country where the virus is endemic or a known history of exposure to the virus. Additionally, everyone had at least one new sexual partner within the past three weeks.
‘The commonly observed symptom of skin lesions in the anal and penile areas, and the fact that a quarter of the patients tested positive for gonorrhea or chlamydia at the same time as the monkeypox infection, suggests that transmission of the monkeypox virus in this cohort is occurring from close skin-to-skin, such as during sexual activity,’ Dr. Ruth Byrne of the NHS said in a press release.
Lesions were the primary symptom experienced by the men, with limited reports of the more common fever and fatigue.
Similar findings were reported in a Belgian study that is still undergoing peer review before official publication.
Three men who exhibited no symptoms and had no known contact with an infected person tested positive for the virus.
This suggests that they contracted the virus from an asymptomatic individual, and had they not discovered their infection, they could have continued to spread it.
Researchers wrote, “The existence of asymptomatic monkeypox infection suggests that the virus may be transmitted to close contacts in the absence of symptoms.”
Identification and isolation of symptomatic individuals may not be sufficient to contain the outbreak, according to our findings.
This undetected spread is the greatest concern of health officials worldwide.
Experts warn that in the United States, in particular, the undetected spread is occurring because federal officials have inadequately expanded access to testing and vaccines.
David Harvey, executive director of the NCSD, told The Hill, “Where we have fallen short is in streamlining testing, making vaccines available, and streamlining access to the best therapeutics.”
“Because all three areas have been bureaucratic and slow, this outbreak has not been contained.”
Testing for the virus has thus far been a slow and laborious process. When a patient exhibits symptoms of the virus, they are initially screened for the orthopoxvirus family.
The lineage includes monkeypox, as well as the extinct smallpox virus, and anyone who tests positive for it likely has the tropical infection.
To confirm a case of monkeypox, samples must be sent to the CDC for testing, where the diagnosis is confirmed.
However, testing is laborious. In addition, access to these tests is restricted. Consequently, many experts are concerned that cases are going undetected.
The federal government has taken steps to increase testing capacity, but test accessibility remains relatively limited.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Wednesday that it had partnered with Labcorp to increase testing capacity to 40,000 per week shortly.
There have also been cases identified with no ties to international travel or another case of the virus, indicating that the virus continues to circulate undetected.
James Krellenstein, the co-founder of Prep4All, told The Hill, “We’ve been sort of yelling for a month about how poor the diagnostic situation is for monkeypox.”
And that was a clear error that could have been avoided, and it is evident that this administration has not learned any lessons from early Covid.
The nation’s vaccine rollout has also been subject to intense scrutiny.
Approximately 4.4 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine have been ordered by American officials, including an additional 2.5 million doses last week.
Getting the injections into the arms has been difficult, however. Before Pride celebrations in the Big Apple, New York City held its first public vaccination event two weeks ago, but officials were forced to halt walk-in appointments within a few hours due to the overwhelming demand.
People waiting for the shot at the clinic told DailyMail.com that the few thousand doses available in a city of nearly eight million were “ridiculous.”
Other eager recipients alleged that officials provided ‘conflicting’ information on how to be vaccinated.
Some experts compare the current ineffective response to monkeypox to the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020.
I believe we will continue to make the same mistakes because that has been our history. This has been our track record,’ said GW professor of global health Jon Andrus.
‘We’ve experienced more than five or six waves of Covid, and each time we seem to be caught off guard; stopping transmission requires that we all be on the same page. Everyone has the same road map.
A Los Angeles-based gay actor is the first American to go public with monkeypox.
The first American monkeypox patient to go public with his battle against the tropical virus has criticized health officials for a ‘lackluster’ job of testing for the virus, which has led to the misdiagnosis of numerous cases.
Matt Ford, a self-employed actor who divides his time between Los Angeles and New York City, has issued a warning to the public that the disease stinks and that they should take it seriously.’
He criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for their inadequate testing, stating that it took officials three days to diagnose his illness, by which time he ‘already knew what they would conclude.
Ford told Buzzfeed that he contracted the virus from another patient through “skin-to-skin contact.”
The actor and writer, who describes himself as a “proud openly gay man,” disclosed that he first noticed spots in and around his “underwear zone,” which led him to believe he had contracted the virus.
In the following days, the lesions spread to his face, arms, hands, and abdomen.
In total, he has counted 25 spots, each of which, he says, began to “fill with pus” and become itchy shortly after appearing. Several, particularly in the “sensitive area,” became so painful that he was unable to sleep at night without taking pain medication.
