Monkeypox Cases Grow In Virginia As Experts Warn Of Risks From Slow Response

VIRGINIA — The Virginia Department of Health reported another case of monkeypox on Monday, as experts warn that the United States is at risk of losing control of the viral disease.

The most recent case in Virginia was identified in a man in the state's northwest region. The patient is currently isolating, and the state health department said it is identifying and monitoring the patient's close contacts.

After the VDH reported the state's first case in late May, the total number of confirmed monkeypox cases in Virginia has grown to 27.

Monkeypox has caused illness in people for decades in Africa. And until May, the disease had not been known to cause outbreaks in multiple countries at the same time and involving people with no travel links to Africa.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported 790 cases as of Friday, although experts believe the number is much higher. Health officials say that gay and bisexual men have borne a disproportionate percentage of the nearly 800 cases.

The Biden administration's response to the monkeypox outbreak has been sluggish, according to experts.

"The first cases of monkeypox were reported in May, but tests will not be readily available until sometime this month," The New York Times reported Friday. "Vaccines will be in short supply for months longer. Surveillance is spotty, and official case counts are likely a gross underestimate."

Jason Cianciotto, vice president of Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York City, questioned why it took so for the federal government to respond to the monkeypox outbreak.

“I'm really concerned that if the monkeypox outbreak goes unchecked, that it, too, will concentrate among low-income communities of color where HIV and COVID-19 is concentrating among immigrants, particularly those undocumented who are afraid to access health care,” Cianciotti told NPR.

All men over age 18 in New York City who have sex with men and have had multiple or anonymous partners in the last 14 days are eligible to get the monkeypox vaccine, the city announced late last month. The two-dose vaccine offered by the city, Jynneos, is FDA-approved for both monkeypox and smallpox.

READ ALSO: Virginia's 2nd Monkeypox Case Reported In NoVA Man

Worldwide, 8,238 cases of monkeypox have been identified in 57 countries. So far, three deaths have been reported globally in the outbreak.

Monkeypox is a potentially serious viral illness, characterized by a specific type of rash. Rash lesions can begin on the genitals, perianal region, or oral cavity and might be the first or only sign of illness.

Some patients also have fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, and swelling of the lymph nodes before developing a rash. Symptoms generally appear six to 14 days after exposure and, for most people, clear up within two to four weeks. Person-to-person spread occurs with close contact or with direct contact with body fluids or contact with contaminated materials such as clothing or linens.

Two monkeypox vaccines — the Jynneos vaccine used in New York City and ACAM2000 — are available through the federal government for people who have had close contact with a person with monkeypox and are at high risk of exposure.

In the United States, there is currently a limited supply of Jynneos. There is a greater supply of ACAM2000, although the CDC recommends people who have certain health conditions, including a weakened immune system and skin conditions like eczema, not use it.

People are considered fully vaccinated about two weeks after their second shot of Jynneos and four weeks after receiving ACAM2000.

The CDC should have made testing rapidly available early on to understand the extent of the outbreak, Angela Rasmussen, a research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, told The New York Times.

"Our failure to do that has almost certainly allowed the outbreak to become much bigger than it could have been, and now I have serious doubts about whether it can even be contained," Rasmussen said.

The public health sector has learned little from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to experts. Similar to the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, tests from monkeypox patients are being sent to the CDC for final diagnosis, a process that can take days.

Local health departments in Virginia and across the country trace contacts only after a confirmed positive case, allowing transmission of the monkeypox virus to continue in the meantime.

“We clearly identified this as a major mistake that allowed COVID to get its footprint in the U.S. and spread undetected for a month, without any of us knowing,” Rasmussen said.