Following the wide spread of monkeypox in the U.S., Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared that the outbreak of the disease is a public health emergency in the country.
Monkeypox has spread quicky since the first case was confirmed in May by health authorities in Boston, as per The Verge.
"We urge every American to take monkeypox seriously," Becerra said in a press briefing today.
In January 2020, U.S. also declared a public health emergency following the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
Public Health Emergency Will Open up Funding for Disease Response
In late July, the World Health Organization made a declaration that monkeypox is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. With that, a number of states such as New York and California have also declared health emergencies.
The declaration of a public health emergency in the U.S. is a significant move because it opens up funding for disease response, according to The Verge. It could also help accelerate access to available treatments for the disease.
There are already monkeypox vaccines available for public's use. The vaccine is being utilized around the country, however, it is still in short supply.
"This public health emergency will allow us to explore different strategies to get vaccines and treatments more quickly out to impacted communities," said Robert Fenton, White House national monkeypox response coordinator, during the press briefing.
Moreover, Fenton said that the public health emergency will allow the agency to obtain more data from jurisdictions in order for them to effectively track and deal with the outbreak.
People who are infected with monkeypox experience having rash and lesions along with symptoms like fevers and swollen lymph nodes. The disease does not spread as easily as COVID-19.
According to experts, monkeypox is primarily transmitted through close person-to-person contact.
Read Also: Bavarian Nordic's Monkeypox Vaccine Gets EU Approval - Has It Been Approved in the US, Canada Too?
More Than 6,600 Cases of Monkeypox Recorded in the U.S.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 6,600 cases of monkeypox in 48 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, as per CNBC.
Since patients can only get tested after they develop a rash, the real number of cases is potentially higher than the official data. It can take a week or more for rash to appear after the initial exposure to the virus.
While monkeypox is rarely fatal and there are no deaths that have been reported in the U.S., the disease can cause so much pain to the patient because of the skin rash caused by the virus, according to CNBC.
During the current outbreak, eight people have died from the disease across the world. The deaths were primarily recording in Africa. Over the weekend, Brazil also reported the first confirmed deaths from the virus.
If response to contain the outbreak will not accelerate, scientists and public health officials are worried that monkeypox could spread permanently in the U.S.
The global outbreak is a highly unusual phenomenon as the virus is not normally found in North America and Europe.
In the past, monkeypox has circulated at low levels in remote parts of West and Central Africa. The virus was typically transmitted from animals to humans and transmission between people was relatively rare in the past.
Related Article: What To Know About Monkeypox: What It Is, Symptoms - Is There a Treatment for It?
