Monkeypox Information Provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The World Health Organization has declared a global emergency over the monkeypox outbreak.
Reueters reports the declaration is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments.
WHO officials said monkeypox, which spreads via close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions, was moderate globally, except in Europe, where the WHO has deemed the risk as high.
So far this year, there have been more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries, and five deaths in Africa.
In New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the New York State Department of Health has reviewed and approved Quest Diagnostics’ recent application for testing to identify Monkeypox in the state. The testing, which uses real-time PCR technology to test samples from individuals who are presenting with vesicular rashes or pustules, will further expand New York State’s ample testing capacity and give providers another option when it comes to labs that can process samples and detect Monkeypox virus.
The expanded testing capacity builds on the State Department of Health’s ongoing response efforts on monkeypox, which included recently launching a new SMS-text notification effort to deliver the latest monkeypox information directly to New Yorkers. New Yorkers can sign up for text messages—which will include alerts about cases, symptoms, spread, and resources for testing and vaccination—by texting “MONKEYPOX” to 81336 or “MONKEYPOXESP” for texts in Spanish. By providing a zip code, New Yorkers can also opt-in for location-based messages.
Due to New York State’s ongoing coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s Monkeypox Response Team, New York State has secured more than 60,000 doses to date.
For more information about monkeypox, visit health.ny.gov/monkeypox.
Leave a Reply