Biden says ‘everybody’ should be concerned about the spread of monkeypox – The Guardian US

President Joe Biden said everybody should be concerned about the new monkeypox outbreak, which has been reported in Africa, Europe, and the U.S.

Cases of monkeypox have been reported in Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the United States, Sweden, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, and Australia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says monkeypox virions are oval-shaped when mature, and spherical when immature. The CDC had previously said the virus was not a threat like more easily spread viruses such at Covid. However, the monkeypox virus is fatal in 1/10 cases.

While there are at least 80 confirmed cases of the disease worldwide and another 50 suspected cases, the U.S. has only confirmed a pair of cases after a man in Massachusetts was diagnosed with the disease. Another man in New York City also tested positive for monkeypox.

The part that is so far throwing virologists is its presence in so many countries at once. The virus is historically only prevalent in west Africa, seeing an estimated 9,000 cases per year.

“I’m stunned by this. Every day I wake up and there are more countries infected,” said Oyewale Tomori, a virologist and World Health Organization advisory board member.

“This is not the kind of spread we’ve seen in West Africa, so there may be something new happening in the West,” he added.

Theories abound that is being spread sexually in the gay community. However there are disconnects in that theory that are not explained. The common thread seems to be that most of the current infections are in people who recently traveled—many to Africa.

The US military recently placed an order with SIGA, a maker of a smallpox vaccine, for enough doses for 13 million people.

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