Hidayatullah.com– Cases of monkeypox in children have been identified in the United States for the first time.
The case involved a toddler in California and an infant who was not a US resident, health authorities said.
The two cases are unrelated and appear to have resulted from transmission within the home between family members, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement Friday. Reuters.
The CDC said the children were doing well and were on medication.
Talking through conference call Dr Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC’s division of high-consequence pathogens and pathology, said it was not surprising to see cases of monkeypox in children. However, “to date there is no evidence that we are seeing this virus spread outside” the community of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
He said 99% of the 2,891 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the US involved men who had sex with men, but there were some infected women and transgender men.
White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr Ashish Jha, speaking at conference call same time, said the government had shipped 300,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine and was working to speed up delivery of another 786,000 doses from Denmark.
He said there was already enough vaccine available for the first dose for more than half of the eligible population in New York City and more than 70% of the eligible population in Washington.
Jha said the US was still evaluating whether the monkeypox outbreak should be declared a public health emergency.
Monkeypox, which causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, has spread mostly to men who have sex with men in recent outbreaks, outside of central and west African countries where monkeypox occurs. The disease is spread mainly through close contact.
So far this year, there have been more than 14,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 60 countries and five deaths in Africa.
The mortality rate in previous outbreaks in Africa of the current strain was around 1%, but so far this outbreak appears to be less lethal in non-endemic countries. However, a number of monkeypox patients have reportedly been hospitalized due to severe illness.*
Rep: Ama Farah
Editor: I knew
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