Second US patient dies from monkeypox

Health officials are now investigating what role monkeypox played in the deaths of people diagnosed with the virus, California officials said Thursday. He is the second known person to die in the United States after contracting the virus.

Announcement coming in less than a month Texas officials confirmed They were investigating possible deaths from the virus.

California has recorded more than 4,140 monkeypox cases. Other states in the country.

“We’re going to do an autopsy, and it’s going to take some time to get results. It could take days, it could take weeks,” said Dr. Rita Singhal of Los Angeles County. . reporter on thursday.

An autopsy was scheduled to begin on Friday, a county spokeswoman later confirmed to CBS News. Physician guidelines for treating Americans facing serious illnesses may change.

Officials say most cases in the outbreak have improved with only minimal treatment, aside from excruciating rashes and lesions that last for weeks. is only a handful. CDC To tell Young children under the age of 8, pregnant or immunocompromised people, and people with a history of eczema “may be at particularly high risk of serious consequences” from the virus.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported early data So far, some HIV-infected people, who make up the majority of outbreak cases, may be at high risk of hospitalization for the disease, especially if their HIV is untreated.

In Houston’s reported death last month, officials confirmed the patient was “severely immunocompromised”. CDC Count 18 confirmed deaths from monkeypox outside the United States in connection with the current outbreak. According to the CDC 8 dead in the world We are in a “historically unreported place for monkeypox.”

There have been no confirmed monkeypox deaths in the United States associated with this outbreak.

monkeypox reaction

The Los Angeles death was a turning point in the Biden administration’s response to the virus, which recently reported 20,000 infections nationwide. Monkeypox vaccine, once in short supply, is now widely available in many states thanks to the government’s “intradermal” strategy. It is administered intradermally, officials said. “Sustaining demand by letting people know that an effective and safe vaccine is available to those who will benefit, now that supply is no longer an issue,” said Bob Fenton, White House monkeypox officer. We need to focus on what we do,” he said. , Said Wednesday.

CDC officials said since August that the agency will soon Recommendation Health officials have now stopped distributing the vaccine and are now urging jurisdictions to prioritize “post-exposure prophylaxis” vaccination for people “after known or presumed exposure to a monkeypox patient.” I am urging

Of the over 1 million vaccine vials allocated Whole countrythe jurisdiction demanded 775,033 doses from the Biden administration.

Officials believe the vaccination campaign helped slow the global economy. pace Number of newly reported monkeypox cases.in the technical report last weekthe CDC predicted that the outbreak in the United States would “grow very slowly” over the next month and “likely slow down.”

But officials also acknowledged the “low confidence” in the assessment. Some states are now beginning to “accelerate” the virus outbreak, the CDC said.

The new phase of the outbreak also heralds a leadership reshuffle at the CDC, which recently tapped the head of the National Center for the Prevention of HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and Tuberculosis (NCHHSTP) to lead the response. took over management.

Agency recently tweaked monkeypox guidanceremoved a line emphasizing that monkeypox does not meet the textbook definition of a sexually transmitted disease.

“Monkeypox is often transmitted through close and sustained physical contact and is almost exclusively associated with sexual contact in the current outbreak,” CDC said in its new advisory.

“Monkeypox poses new health and safety concerns that require all of us to step up our expertise, tools, partnerships, programs and talent,” said NCHHSTP Director Jono Mermin, Ph.D. wrote: letter announced his new role to lead the monkeypox response.

Amid the growing complexity of the outbreak, the ranks of agencies working on monkeypox have also ballooned in the past few months.

Among the new challenges soon to appear on Marmin’s plate, the CDC recently discovered a “serious” mutation in the monkeypox virus that caused at least three Californians who were initially given “false-negative” results. infected.

Scientists still believe the mutation is rare, but the change has led officials to issue a warning Encourage labs to update their tests to prevent missed cases.

That warning comes weeks after the agency prompted several labs to double-check some of the results because of “false positives” found in women and children. wrongly diagnosed infected with a virus.

“Many people within the CDC and NCHHSTP are currently working on the monkeypox response, and many public health colleagues across the country have been asked to take on additional responsibilities. We are,” writes Mermin.