As monkeypox cases spread among gay men in Michigan, messaging becomes tricky – Bridge Michigan
Here’s what we know about monkeypox:
What and where is monkeypox?
A viral infection, monkeypox is closely related to smallpox and causes the same symptoms — flu-like fevers, headaches, backaches, muscle aches and chills.
Symptoms may take up to 21 days to develop after a person is exposed to the virus.
As the illness progresses, a rash may develop with blister-like pustules and scabs which, when severe, can be painful and disfiguring. The rash often lasts two to four weeks, and the person is contagious until scabs have fallen off.
Monkeypox also may cause lymph nodes to swell, but according to the World Health Organization’s fact sheet, it is rarely fatal.
Most Michigan cases are in southeast Michigan (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston and St. Clair counties), but monkeypox cases have been confirmed in Genesee, Ingham, Ionia, Montcalm, Ottawa and Kent counties.
“The hope is that it can be corralled and contained,” Matt Bolang, Livingston County’s acting health officer, told Bridge Michigan this week after the county confirmed its first case. “That’s our role — to keep it from expanding, but obviously it’s a difficult chore.”
How can I avoid monkeypox?
The virus is transmitted when someone comes into contact with the virus, such as by close, personal contact, including skin-to-skin touches, kissing or other sexually intimate contact, or by touching fabrics or objects touched by someone infected, according to the CDC. It can also be transmitted to the fetus
In the United States, smallpox vaccination efforts helped mostly eradicate smallpox. However, those vaccines mostly stopped in 1972 as the world was becoming free of the virus. Now, those vaccines are being manufactured to provide protection against monkeypox.
A limited number — including just more than 3,400 doses in Michigan, according to the state — is available to those at greatest risk of exposure and transmission. Michigan is now limiting its supply of the vaccine, meant to be given in two doses, to a single dose per person.
Is monkeypox new?
The first human case of monkeypox was discovered in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Monkeypox in the United States is rare, and cases usually stem from international travel or from importing animals, typically from central and western Africa. In 2003, a shipment of small mammals from Ghana carried the virus into Texas. The infection was contained at the time; the CDC continues to restrict the importation of African rodents.