While monkeypox has sometimes caused serious illness in humans, the virus is not as contagious or deadly as the coronavirus. Monkey pox is generally spread through close contact with lesions and skin or with objects that have come into contact with an infected person, such as sheets or towels. Most cases reported so far have involved men who have reported recent sex with one or more male partners, although not exclusively, according to the World Health Organization. This indicates “there is no continuous transmission signal beyond these networks at this time,” the service says. But this should not lead to complacency. There is a risk that the disease will become established in that community or spread to other populations. All efforts must be made to fight the virus where it is found. This is not a gay disease, but a disease that circulates in the gay community, a vital but difficult distinction that public health officials face. The HIV/AIDS pandemic showed the devastating impact of stigma, which discouraged people from obtaining services. Public health officials must be careful to avoid discrimination and stigma while aggressively monitoring for the disease. Waiting for patients to enter clinics is not enough. Public health agencies should work with LGBTQ and AIDS organizations to bring testing and detection to the community. A recent account in The Post found that early testing efforts in the US were severely lagging, although the number of tests now appears to be increasing. One limitation is that current tests do not detect initial symptoms, but only check for lesions, which appear after an incubation period of about one to two weeks. Another worrying problem is the lack of vaccine. Two are licensed by the Food and Drug Administration. Both were created to fight smallpox and also to protect against monkeypox. One of them, two-dose Jynneos, developed by Bavarian Nordic, a small Danish company, has fewer side effects, is easier to administer and can be given to more people. But the factory for its production has been closed since last year and can only resume operations this summer. There is a limited supply of the vaccine in the US national stockpile and in Europe. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday that priority distribution in the U.S. right now will go to areas with the most high-risk patients. However, existing supplies are not sufficient to keep up with demand. further escalation will be needed as soon as possible. The second vaccine, ACAM2000, carries a greater risk of serious side effects. Monkeypox doesn’t threaten everyone like covid-19 did. That’s not much comfort. We are witnessing a serious epidemic that requires an urgent response before it causes even more damage.
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Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through discussion among members of the Editorial Board, based on the Opinions section and separate from the newsroom. Editorial Board members and areas of focus: Associate Editorial Page Editor Karen Tumulty; Associate Editorial Page Editor Ruth Marcus; Associate Editorial Page Editor Jo-Ann Armao (education, DC affairs); Jonathan Capehart (national politics); Lee Hockstader (immigration, issues affecting Virginia and Maryland); David E. Hoffman (global public health); Charles Lane (foreign affairs, national security, international economy); Heather Long (finance); Molly Roberts (technology and society); and Stephen Stromberg (elections, White House, Congress, legal affairs, energy, environment, health care).
