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A Nigerian doctor who treated Nigeria’s monkeypox outbreak in 2017 told Fox News in an interview that the virus is now in danger as cases rise in the United States and the Biden administration calls the outbreak public health. “It shows all the signs of what is going to be an established STD,” he said. emergency.
Infectious disease physician Dr. Dimie Ogoina has treated Nigeria’s first case of monkeypox in nearly 40 years. That year in 2017, an 11-year-old boy came to him with a chickenpox-like rash.
The doctor said, “I have never seen a case of monkeypox in my life. [had] I could only see pictures,” Ogoina told Fox News.
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Doctors found the first recorded cases of human monkeypox among children in Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1970s. He discovered the first case in a monkey in an animal facility and gave the disease the name “monkeypox.”
But in 2017, Dr. Ogoina, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Niger Delta in Nigeria, noticed that the 11-year-old boy had no contact with animals. The virus spread through his family, first infecting his uncle, then his mother, father and younger brother.
After sending samples of the boy’s lesions to a laboratory in Senegal, Dr. Ogoina confirmed his suspicions.The boy contracted monkeypox in Nigeria for the first time in 38 years.
The 2017 outbreak has spread to 200 confirmed cases in Nigeria. Since then, the monkeypox virus has gone from a rare disease to an endemic condition in Africa, with cases spreading mainly among young gay and bisexual men.
Although the virus is not endemic in the United States, Dr. Ogoina told Fox News that it is showing signs of becoming, in his opinion, an “established STD.” or HIV.
The CDC told Fox News that the virus can be sexually transmitted but has not reached the status of a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
In 2021, the United States confirmed two cases of monkeypox in travelers from Nigeria.
The CDC cited contract-tracking efforts and “strong cooperation between the CDC, state and local health departments, airline and airport partners” as reasons for containing the spread.
Less than a year later, monkeypox cases are on the rise.
As of Thursday afternoon, August 18, 2022, there are 14,115 confirmed monkeypox (orthopox virus) cases in the United States, according to the CDC.
In response to questions, the CDC told Fox News that the virus can be transmitted sexually, but has not reached the status of a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
“This shows that the virus has evolved and is more adapted to human hosts,” said Dr. Dimie Ogoina.
“[The] The current outbreak has raised questions about whether monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Monkeypox can more accurately be described as a “sexually transmitted disease”. In other words, sex is one way monkeypox is transmitted, but not the only way,” the agency said.
“In the current monkeypox epidemic, the virus is spread primarily through close contact with a monkeypox patient. or contact with respiratory secretions.”
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The Biden administration is trying to reduce the dosage and make the vaccine five times less potent.
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On August 9, 2022, the White House issued the following partial statement in that regard.
“The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a Section 564 declaration authorizing FDA to use its authority to allow healthcare providers to administer up to five times the vaccine dose per vial of JYNNEOS vaccine. Did.”
He continued, “Following last week’s declaration of a public health emergency, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra today announced the approval of vaccines to prevent monkeypox and other serious diseases under section 564 of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. We have made the decision to grant an Emergency Use Authorization, which will allow the federal government to administer up to five times the dose from a single vial of the JYNNEOS vaccine.”
“Vaccination is not the best way to contain this risk,” says Dr. Robert Malone. “We need contact tracing, sobriety and isolation until these people are no longer infected.”
“The EUA now allows 0.1ml of JYNNEOS vaccine to be administered between layers of the skin (intradermal) instead of administering 0.1ml of JYNNEOS vaccine under the skin (subcutaneous).”
Vaccine distribution is one factor in stemming monkeypox outbreaks. Other experts point to other measures.
Dr. Robert Malone, co-inventor of mRNA vaccines, told Fox News that, in his view, vaccination should not be the first line of defense.
“The best way to contain this risk is not vaccination,” Malone said. “We need contact tracing, sobriety and isolation until these people are no longer infected.”
He also added, “We don’t know how effective this vaccine really is. It wasn’t designed for monkeypox… what’s being done now is in line with what happened early in the coronavirus crisis.” very similar.”
Public health officials are also trying to fight the stigma around the name of the disease and the population it affects.
“Newly identified viruses, associated diseases, and virus subspecies should not be named with the intention of avoiding offense to cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups. must be attached…”
WHO is considering renaming monkeypox and issued the following statement: Protect a professional or ethnic group and minimize adverse effects on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare. “
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Speaking to Fox News about the monkeypox epidemic, Dr. Malone said:
He also said, “I think in public health we really need to be aware of situations that limit our ability to communicate effectively with people who are most at risk.
American voters aren’t worried about monkeypox, despite a surge in cases, according to a Fox News poll. From Aug. 6, he said 54% of registered voters surveyed over the 9 days were not worried about monkeypox.
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But there is an urgency among the international community to contain the virus.
“This infection has spread rapidly to more than 50 countries in less than two months and is still spreading,” said Dr. Ogoina.