Amid the rising cases of monkeypox, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that it can spread through the air but only through ‘sustained’ face-to-face contact with an infected person.
In a briefing on Friday, CDC chief Rochelle Walensky said monkeypox was being passed on through physical contact with symptomatic patients and by touching their clothing and bedding, reports the Daily Mail.
But attempting to clear up whether face masks are needed to avoid catching the rash-causing virus, the epidemiologist explained the rash-causing virus would not ‘linger in the air’ like Covid. “The disease is not spread through casual conversations, passing others in a grocery store, or touching things like door knobs,” she said.
“All of the cases we have seen to date in this outbreak have been related to direct contact.” During the conference health officials also called on Americans with any sexually transmitted infection, including syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia, to get tested for monkeypox.
They warned many patients were experiencing rashes and sores on the genitals and anus that looked like STIs.
Several cases of co-infection with monkeypox and a sexually transmitted disease have also been recorded.
Walensky stressed that the virus was only transmitted through the air via large droplets expelled from infected people that quickly fall to the ground.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would hold an emergency meeting to determine if the Monkeypox outbreak should be classified as a public health emergency of international concern.
“The outbreak of monkeypox is unusual and concerning. For that reason, I have decided to convene the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations next week, to assess whether this outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The emergency committee will meet on June 23 to discuss the designation, which is the highest alarm the UN agency can sound.
“WHO is also working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of monkeypox virus… and the disease it causes,” Tedros said, adding, “We will make announcements about the new names as soon as possible.” Until a few months, Monkeypox had been mostly confined to western and central Africa.
Tedros said 1,600 confirmed Monkeypox cases and 1,500 suspected cases have been reported to the WHO this year from 39 countries, 32 of which have been recently hit by the virus. While 72 deaths have been reported in countries where Monkeypox was already endemic, none have been seen in the newly affected countries, Tedros said.