Wed 07 September 2022:
The United States has confirmed more than 20,000 monkeypox cases, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A total of 20,733 known monkeypox cases had been reported nationwide as of Tuesday, CDC data showed.
California had the most cases with 3,833, followed by New York with 3,526 and Florida with 2,126, according to CDC data.
So far the United States has the world’s highest tally of monkeypox cases.
The Joe Biden administration has been facing criticism in its response to the monkeypox outbreak, including failure to order enough vaccines, speed treatments and make tests available to head off the outbreak.
“From vaccinations to communications, the White House effort to fight the monkeypox virus has been one mess after another,” said a recent report of Bloomberg.
31 cases of monkeypox among children
At least 31 children in the United States have tested positive for monkeypox, according to state officials across the country.
So far, 11 U.S. states and jurisdictions have reported monkeypox cases among children. Texas alone has identified nine pediatric cases of monkeypox, state officials told ABC News on Tuesday.
Most of the cases in this outbreak have occurred during intimate skin-to-skin contact among men who have sex with other men, including those who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary. However, both the CDC and the World Health Organization have stressed there is no evidence monkeypox is a sexually transmitted disease and that anyone can be infected through prolonged close contact.
Monkeypox is a rare illness caused by infection with the monkeypox virus, part of the same family of viruses as the variola virus, which causes smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but less severe and rarely fatal, according to the CDC.
While smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980, monkeypox continues to be endemic to Africa, where it primarily occurs in rural, tropical rainforest areas of central and west African countries. The virus is occasionally exported to other regions but has rarely spread outside Africa, according to the WHO.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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