(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Monkeypox outbreak: 5 new deaths in countries where virus usually not reported; no deaths in U.S. [1] ['Issac Morgan', 'More From Author', '- August'] Date: 2022-08-18 As the 2022 monkeypox outbreak continues to spread across Florida, the nation and world, a dozen fatalities have been reported, with five deaths in areas where the virus usually hasn’t been detected. So far, no deaths have been reported in the United States, though the U.S. has the most monkeypox cases of 94 countries. Of the five deaths, Spain, in Europe, has seen two deaths and India, in Asia, one death. Brazil and Ecuador, in South America, each has one death, according to a global data map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The other seven deaths, in Africa, were discovered “in locations that have historically reported monkeypox.” Of those deaths, four are in Nigeria, two in the Central African Republic and one in Ghana. Meanwhile, the United States leads in cases of the virus that can cause a characteristic rash and other painful symptoms, according to the CDC data. There have been 39,434 monkeypox cases in 94 locations. Of those countries, 87 “have not historically reported monkeypox,” according to the CDC. ‘High demand for vaccines’ Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO), which is also monitoring the outbreak, addressed the disease during a Wednesday press conference. Officials from WHO emphasized that vaccines will be a key tool to contain the spread of the virus and confirmed that 12 deaths were identified worldwide. As previously reported by the Florida Phoenix, vaccines have been limited in the nation but health officials have released guidance to health care providers on administering doses to stretch out the supply. “Vaccines may play an important part in controlling the outbreak. And in many countries, there is high demand for vaccines from the effective communities,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said during Wednesday’s press conference. “However, for the moment, supplies for vaccines and data about the effectiveness are limited. ..we are starting to receive data from some countries. We remain concerned that the inequitable access to vaccines we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic will be repeated and that the poorest will continue to be left behind.” Tedros warned that “almost all cases are being reported from Europe and the Americas” and “reported among men who have sex with men, underscoring the importance for all countries to design and deliver services.” Still, anyone can get the disease, according to the CDC. “The primary focus for all countries must be to ensure that they are ready for monkeypox and to stop transmission using effective public health tools,” he said. Tedros added that the agency last week announced that health experts “agreed to rename the two known clades of monkeypox virus using roman numerals.” Monkeypox in FL Monkeypox cases are climbing in the state and some children, teens and young adults are getting infected, according to data from the Florida Department of Health. That said, a state health official this week dismissed the idea of implementing more safety protocols at K-12 schools. During a press briefing, Dr. Ulyee Choe, director of the state health department in Pinellas County, said that the disease doesn’t pose much of a threat at K-12 schools right now. “The school districts in general have protocols in place for any child presenting with a rash,” Choe said. “Again, we will continue to monitor, but we don’t believe it to be at this time a big driver for this outbreak.” Overall, there’s 1,372 monkeypox cases across 29 counties, with most infections in South Florida, according to the latest data from the state health department. And while the largest numbers of monkeypox cases are in the age groups of 30 to 34, 35 to 39 and 40 to 44, the numbers are rising for younger adults, teens and young children. For example, the data now show 10 cases in the age group of 15-19, and 68 cases in the age group of 20 to 24. Earlier, there was one case in Martin County, in the 0 to 4 age group. Now there’s two cases, including one new case in Brevard County, according to the state health department data. [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2022/08/18/monkeypox-outbreak-5-new-deaths-in-countries-where-virus-usually-not-reported-no-deaths-in-u-s/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/