US reports 2 cases of monkeypox in children for the first time

The United States has recorded two cases of monkeypox in children for the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Friday. On Saturday (23), the WHO (World Health Organization) declared the disease a public emergency of global concern.

According to health officials, the fact demonstrates that, although monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection, it has the potential to infect anyone who has close contact with other infected individuals.

One of the children diagnosed is from California and the other, a baby, was confirmed to have the disease while the family was traveling in Washington. They are not US residents.

According to the CDC, the two childhood cases of monkeypox are unrelated and likely resulted from domestic transmission.

The agency also said that the children are in good health, being treated, and that authorities are still investigating how they became infected.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said that the cases are related to individuals who are from the MSM community (men who have sex with men), but that investigations are still ongoing.

Since the outbreak began in the US in May, the vast majority of monkeypox cases have been reported among men who have sex with men, but officials emphasize that the pathogen can also affect people outside that community.

In a conference call on Friday, Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC’s division of pathogens and high-consequence pathology, said it’s not surprising that the emergence of pediatric cases of monkeypox is not surprising.

“The social networks that we have as humans mean that we have contact with a lot of different people,” she said, noting that Europe and other places where the disease outbreak is expanding have also reported cases in children and women.

According to McQuiston, the disease also spreads through skin-to-skin contact, which, in the case of children, can include holding, hugging, feeding, as well as through shared items such as towels, bedding, cups and utensils. , transmission is expected.

“But there’s no evidence to date that we’re seeing this virus spreading outside of gay, bisexual and other men who have had sex with men.”

She says 99% of the 2,891 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the US through Friday involved men who have sex with men, but there were also at least eight cases among cisgender women and transgender men.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the largest to date, analyzed 528 confirmed infections in 16 countries between April 27 and June 24, and concluded that 98% of those infected were MSM and 95% of the cases were transmitted by sexual way.

Health officials say that spread by the respiratory route is possible, but it usually occurs when contact is for prolonged periods, for example, when a person lives in the same house as an infected person.

The virus can also be transmitted through physical contact, including touching an injury, as well as exchanging some body fluids, such as saliva.

The CDC advises caution in places where people bump into, hug and kiss, with minimal clothing, such as raves and crowded clubs.

Transmission can also occur when a person touches items and surfaces shared with someone who has symptoms.

There is great concern among physicians that the fact that the disease is more concentrated among men who have sex with men will increase prejudice and stigma in relation to this community.

“That was a disaster in the past [com a epidemia de Aids]. There are already many cases that have nothing to do [com transmissão sexual]. There are already cases where the contact involved was bed linen, towels. This story cannot be thought of simply”, said infectious disease specialist David Uip, secretary of Science, Research and Development in Health of the São Paulo government, to Sheet.

In Brazil, the Ministry of Health confirms 607 cases of the disease until last Friday. The balance is more than double verified on the 9th, when there were 218 confirmed diagnoses across the country.

Cases of the disease are mainly concentrated in São Paulo. On Saturday (23), the state Health Secretary said that there were 466 confirmed cases of the disease in the state. Most of them are in the capital of São Paulo – in total, there were 385 in the city alone.

“All patients have a good evolution of the picture and are monitored by the epidemiological surveillance of their respective municipalities, with the support of the state”, says aa note from the secretary.