Monkeypox cases show signs of decreasing in US and globally

New York City, a major hot spot, says transmission of the virus has slowed.

A nurse vaccinates a patient against monkeypox in Montpellier, southern France, last week. Picture: AFP

The pace of new monkeypox cases may be slowing in hotspots including New York City, health officials said, offering hope an outbreak that has sickened more than 46,000 people globally is cooling.

In the US, which has the most known cases globally, factors including outreach and vaccines are helping to curb the spread in New York City. In the San Francisco area, the concentration of monkeypox DNA detected in wastewater has stabilised in recent weeks.

There are also some early signs the rate of new case growth may be waning in Europe, where monkeypox cases started piling up in May, according to the World Health Organisation.

“We’ve started to see globally that we might be turning the corner,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said at the weekend.

Public health experts said they remain cautious about whether the outbreak has peaked, as efforts continue to stretch limited vaccine supplies and protect people vulnerable to catching the viral disease, which has overwhelmingly affected men who have sex with men.

Dr Walensky noted that cases among black and Hispanic men have been rising in recent weeks, even as the overall pace of case growth declines, highlighting the importance of providing the vaccine evenly among at-risk people. She also highlighted efforts to educate college students as cases start popping up on campuses.

“If anything, we need to continue to strongly communicate and educate the public about this pathogen,” said Rodney Rohde, a public health expert at Texas State University.

Ashwin Vasan, commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, credited vaccination efforts, outreach from community leaders and the public’s response for contributing to a slowing in cases and transmission.

“All of this is clearly taking hold and having a positive effect in slowing this outbreak,” Dr Vasan said at a city council meeting last week.

Since May, at least 46,337 monkeypox cases have been reported in about 90 countries where the disease is uncommon, according to CDC data.

While Europe was hit hard early on, the US now has roughly a third of known cases. About 17,000 cases have been reported in all 50 US states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico, the CDC said.

The Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency early this month, following a WHO declaration of a global health emergency in July.

The WHO said the number of new reported cases globally declined by 21 per cent in the week ending August 21, following four consecutive weeks of increases. The drop may reflect early signs of a declining case count in Europe, though that needs to be confirmed, the WHO said.

US health authorities have faced challenges as they have attempted to contain the outbreak, even though monkeypox was a known disease that could have been guarded against. Testing, necessary to identify cases and track the outbreak’s trajectory, was limited early on.

The US has also faced criticism for not moving more quickly to secure adequate vaccine doses. A proactive response in at-risk communities has helped slow the spread of the virus.

Monkeypox can spread through close skin-to-skin contact and contact with contaminated objects such as clothing and bedding. Cases can be extremely painful for some people.

According to an online survey this month by Emory University, a significant number of men who have sex with men have changed their behaviour because of the outbreak.

About 50 per cent of the men surveyed said they had reduced their number of sex partners, and about 50 per cent said they had reduced the number of one-time sexual encounters, which accounted for about half of daily monkeypox transmission.

“The LGBTQ+ community is doing things to reduce their risk, and it’s working,” said Demetre Daskalakis, a White House official working on the response.

Monkeypox, a virus related to smallpox, was rarely detected outside Africa before this outbreak. The type of monkeypox spreading globally is considered a less severe variety. Deaths have been rare, though a handful of people have died in countries where the virus isn’t endemic.

The Wall Street Journal