Saturday 21 May 2022 04:55 AM NYC warns residents to wear a mask after local tests positive for virus related ... trends now
A New York City patient tested positive for a virus related to monkeypox as officials worldwide warn against the spread of the rare disease.
The city health department, which was probing two possible infections, confirmed one patient tested positive for orthopoxvirus, the family of of viruses to which monkeypox belongs.
Doctors are treating the case as a presumed positive, with the patient being kept in isolation, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts tests to confirm a monkeypox diagnosis.
NYC officials say the other possible monkeypox patient tested negative for the virus.
The health department is encouraging New Yorkers to wear face masks to protect against monkeypox, as well as other illnesses, such as COVID-19 and the flu. Monkeypox primarily spreads through physical contact but can also be transmitted through respiratory droplets in the air.
Meanwhile, the CDC issued an alert Friday urging doctors and health departments to be 'vigilant' for cases of monkeypox amid increased global spread.
The World Health Organization (WHO) held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent 'unprecedented' outbreak after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe.
In what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever, cases have been reported in at least nine countries - Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK - as well as the U.S., Canada and Australia.
A New York City patient tested positive for a virus related to monkeypox as officials worldwide warn against the spread of the rare disease
The World Health Organization held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe
The NYC health department is encouraging New Yorkers to wear face masks to protect against monkeypox, as well as other illnesses, such as COVID-19 and the flu
Monkeypox, which mostly occurs in west and central Africa, is a rare viral infection similar to smallpox, though milder.
The illness was first recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1970s, but the number of cases in West Africa has increased in the last decade.
It is an uncommon disease that usually causes symptoms of fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph-nodes, headaches and skin rashes starting on the face and spreading to the rest of the body.
The CDC's alert to medical professionals comes just two days after the agency confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in a man in Massachusetts who had recently traveled to Canada.
The agency issued the alert to healthcare workers 'so we are prepared to handle what may be coming.'
'We are seeing the virus emerging in new ways we have not seen it emerge before,' said Brett Petersen, deputy chief of the CDC's pox virus and rabies branch told The Washington Post Friday. 'That is where a lot of the concern comes from.'
The CDC issued an alert Friday urging doctors and health departments to be 'vigilant' for cases of monkeypox amid increased global spread
In addition to the two confirmed cases in the U.S., the CDC is monitoring six people in America for possible monkeypox infections.
The individuals were exposed after sitting near an infected traveler, who was exhibiting symptoms, on a flight from Nigeria to the UK earlier this month.
Federal officials expect to identify additional infections in U.S. in the upcoming days.
First identified in monkeys, the disease typically spreads through close contact and has rarely spread outside Africa, so this series of cases has triggered concern. However, scientists do not expect the outbreak to evolve into a pandemic like COVID-19, given the virus does not spread as easily as SARS-COV-2. PICTURED: Monkeypox virus
WHO held an emergency meeting Friday to investigate the spread of the virus. During the conference, a team of researchers who have been tracking cases revealed the majority of confirmed infections had been reported in Spain, followed by England and Portugal.
Spain reported 24 new cases on Friday, mainly in the Madrid region where the regional government closed a sauna linked to the majority of infections.
A hospital in Israel was treating a man in his 30s who is displaying symptoms consistent with the disease after recently arriving from Western Europe.
Belgium confirmed their first case of monkeypox in the province of Antwerp on Thursday. The person's partner is being tested for the virus as they are showing symptoms.
Meanwhile, the first suspected case of the monkeypox virus on French territory has been detected in the Paris/Ile-de-France region, the French Health Ministry said on Thursday.
Canada has also confirmed two cases of monkeypox while at least 17 suspected cases are being investigated in Montreal, Quebec's largest city.
Globally, there are more than 50 suspected cases that have not yet been confirmed. No deaths have been tied to the virus during this outbreak.
Monkeypox primarily spreads through physical contact but can also be transmitted through respiratory droplets in the air. Health experts have suggested masks could help prevent spread. PICTURED: New Yorkers masked up in April 2021, amid the COVID pandemic
First identified in monkeys, the disease typically spreads through close contact and has rarely spread outside Africa, so this series of cases has triggered concern.
However, scientists do not expect the outbreak to evolve into a pandemic like COVID-19, given the virus does not spread as easily as SARS-COV-2.
'There appears to be a low risk to the general public at this time,' a senior U.S. administration official said.
Fabian Leendertz, from the Robert Koch Institute, described the outbreak as an epidemic.
'However, it is very unlikely that this epidemic will last long. The cases can be well isolated via contact tracing and there are also drugs and effective vaccines that can be used if
