U.S. Surgeon General says the CDC is closely tracking monkeypox

May 24, 2022

Monkeypox is a low threat to the normal American public and is not similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a senior U.S. well being official who was in Phoenix Tuesday.

Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant U.S. Secretary for Health, mentioned that monkeypox “is not another COVID-19” and that the threat to the normal public is low.

Levine made her feedback at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center after holding a non-public listening session about burnout with well being care employees together with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.

“This is not a coronavirus. It is a completely different virus. It’s spread by close personal contacts, so it’s spread in a completely different way,” Levine mentioned. “The CDC is monitoring however the situation really closely, both in the United States and internationally. … The cases so far have not been severe.”

In early May, the World Health Organization confirmed a case of monkeypox in a British traveler getting back from Nigeria, the place the illness is endemic.

As of Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed one case of monkeypox infection in the U.S., in an grownup male in Massachusetts with latest journey to Canada.

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U.S. Surgeon General: The CDC is tracking monkeypox ‘very, very closely’

Murthy mentioned the CDC is working closely with docs, nurses and states to ensure adequate monitoring is in place, ought to extra case come up.

“Right now, the number of cases and suspected cases is quite small and quite limited,” he mentioned. “If you look at the last time the United States dealt with a significant outbreak of monkeypox, every individual who contracted the virus in that case made a full recovery.”

The U.S. additionally has a provide of vaccines that the CDC believes might be efficient in opposition to monkeypox, which is reassuring, he mentioned.

“People should know that this is an issue the CDC is tracking very, very closely in partnership with local and state authorities,” he mentioned. “Monkeypox is a virus that presents with symptoms that are like the flu and can also present with a rash and that rash can last sometimes for a couple of weeks.”

The final time the U.S. noticed an outbreak of monkeypox was in 2003, when the CDC reported 47 confirmed and suspected instances after some individuals got here into contact with contaminated pet prairie canines housed alongside a cargo of small mammals from Ghana.

Monkeypox doesn’t happen naturally in the U.S., however instances have occurred that had been related to worldwide journey or importing animals from areas the place the illness is extra widespread, the CDC says.

The CDC is urging healthcare suppliers in the U.S. to be alert for sufferers who’ve rash sicknesses in keeping with monkeypox, no matter whether or not they have journey or particular threat elements for monkeypox and no matter gender or sexual orientation.

Health care employees are feeling bullied and harassed at work, advisory days

Murthy and Levine held a non-public listening session with well being care employees in Phoenix on Tuesday and mentioned the surgeon normal’s national advisory on health worker burnout.

They had been joined by Dr. Loretta Christensen, Indian Health Service chief medical officer, and Dr. Claire Nechiporenko, a pediatrician and performing director of ambulatory providers at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center.

The nationwide advisory says that amongst 26,174 state, tribal, native and territorial public well being employees surveyed throughout March and April 2021, practically 23.4% reported feeling “bullied, threatened or harassed at work.”

Murthy mentioned he is visiting well being care employees throughout the nation to study and speak about find out how to build a broader motion to deal with well being care employee burnout. Even earlier than the pandemic, well being care employees had been feeling burned out, he mentioned.

“Health care workers faced wave after wave of patients with COVID-19 as they sustained verbal and physical attacks as well,” he mentioned. “Of course, they had to deal with the onslaught of misinformation, which has been one the great plagues during this pandemic.”