Friday 10 June 2022 07:19 PM Monkeypox only spreads through air during 'SUSTAINED' face-to-face contact, CDC ... trends now
Monkeypox can spread through the air but only through 'sustained' face-to-face contact with an infected person, the director of the CDC revealed Friday as the national infection tally hit 49 cases and officials in Hawaii say they fear the tropical disease is 'in our community'.
In a briefing Friday Dr Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said monkeypox was being passed on through physical contact with symptomatic patients and by touching their clothing and bedding.
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 case 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.
America's monkeypox cases tally rose to 49 today with Rhode Island becoming the fifteenth state to report a case of the disease. Officials in Hawaii — which reported its third case on Thursday — are now warning it may already be transmitting unchecked in their community.
The update on how the virus transmits came after it posted guidance for people to wear face masks in countries experiencing outbreaks, and then u-turned just 13 hours after it was reported by the media.
A total of 49 cases of monkeypox have now been recorded across 15 states in America and Washington D.C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says most cases are in people who recently returned from abroad
Dr Rochelle Walensky (left), who heads up the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that monkeypox could only spread through the air during prolonged face to face contact. Dr Jennifer McQuiston (right), who is heading up the agency's response, said most cases were in people who had recently traveled
During the briefing today, Walensky stressed that the virus was only transmitting through the air via large droplets expelled from infected people that quickly fall to the ground.
'It may spread through respiratory secretions when people have sustained face-to-face contact,' she said. '[But] all of the cases that we have seen to date in this outbreak have been related to direct contact with patients or with materials that have touched them either through close contact or through bedsheets and what not.'
The U.S. army has reported its first case of monkeypoxat a base in Germany.
The soldier — who has not been named — tested positive for the tropical disease at the facility in Stuttgart, in the country's south-west.
Military officials have now quarantined the individual in their quarters until symptoms subside.
German authorities have been informed of the case, and contact tracing is underway.
The Stuttgart base is a garrison for about 23,000 soldiers.
The U.S. army base in Stuttgart, where the case was reported
Revealing the case navy Capt. William Speaks said: 'We can confirm that a duty service member from the Suttgart military community recently tested positive for monkeypox.
'The individual was seen and treated at the Stuttgart Army Health clinic and is currently in isolation.'
Germany has detected 165 cases of monkeypox to date, local officials say.
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'Monkeypox is not thought to linger in the air.
'When we consider airborne transmission at the CDC particles that are expelled can linger in the
