Jump to content
Guest

Monkeypox

Recommended Posts

  • Members
25 minutes ago, Slvkguy said:

The Biden Administration is clearly responsible for the American failure re: monkeypox.

Perhaps I was too quick to say Congress was at least too much to blame ;) - even though I do think they were very shortsighted re: funding for Jynneos and other MCMs.

The Biden admin absolutely have poorly played the imperfect hand they were dealt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Slvkguy said:

The richest country in the world and we can’t seem to get much right.

Misaligned spendings on social programs by democrats and attempts to drop most of them by republicans, coupled with the ignorance of the brainwashed mob who votes against their own interests is only a small part of the problem the US is facing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, alvnv said:

Misaligned spendings on social programs by democrats and attempts to drop most of them by republicans, coupled with the ignorance of the brainwashed mob who votes against their own interests is only a small part of the problem the US is facing.

still many countries would be happy to have only those  problems

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Slvkguy said:

The Biden Administration is clearly responsible for the American failure re: monkeypox.  We don’t get to excuse those we voted for and only blame the ones we didn’t.  

The richest country in the world and we can’t seem to get much right.

Oh, please!  "American failure ..." is a bit melodramatic.  So, if the USA has failed in the still developing situation ... which countries have gotten it right and whose advance preparations were the best or better?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Pattaya News

Sixth Case reported in Thailand

Thailand yesterday (August 26th), reported the sixth confirmed case of Monkeypox which is a Thai woman in Maha Sarakham, in the northeast of Thailand.

The director-general of the Department of Disease Control, Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, revealed that the latest patient was a 21-year-old Thai woman who is a massage worker who recently came back from Qatar.

– August 10th a red rash started from her genitals while she was in Qatar.

– August 21st she returned back to Thailand and arrived at her home in Maha Sarakham.

– August 22nd went to a local hospital with fever and swollen lymph nodes.

– August 24th she was confirmed with Monkeypox.

Dr. Opas added, “It is obvious that the patient was an imported case from abroad. There are four high risk contacts and 24 low risk people from this case. The patient and risk cases are now under close observation of medical personnel and Public Health officials. The Director-General urged the public to remain calm as the disease is not easily contracted.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From The Thaiger

Thailand records its seventh monkeypox case

A 37-year-old Thai woman in Bangkok became Thailand’s seventh monkeypox patient after testing positive late last week, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) said on Sunday.

DDC Director General Dr Opas Karnkawinpong said the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute reported on Saturday that a woman had tested positive for the disease.

Dr Opas revealed the patient had intercourse with a foreigner but had not travelled abroad recently.

The patient developed a fever on August 20 and found blisters near her anus the following day. Two days later more blisters appeared in other parts of her body, making her seek treatment at a Nonthaburi province institute.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

... Brazil, which, according to the World Health Organization, has close to 10 percent of global monkeypox cases, currently has no vaccine or treatment either.

The NY Times is featuring an article on Monkeypox in the 09.12.2022 online edition (may require subscription to read in its entirety).

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/health/monkeypox-vaccines-treatments-equity.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eighth monkeypox case reported

The Thai News Agency is reporting that Thailand's eighth monekeypox case. He is described as a 23-year-old Thai man who was a service worker in Qatar.

the 23-year-old man did not have any underlying illness. He was a service provider in Qatar and had sex with a man who had blisters on his back.

The Thai man fell sick on Sept 8. He had fever, shivering, headache, fatigue, muscle and back pain, no appetite and about 15 blisters on his hand, arm, back, buttocks and anus.

He arrived in Thailand on Sept 13 and then met two Thai friends. They did not touch his skin or blisters.

On Sept 14, he went to the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute for a diagnosis. A doctor collected samples from him for tests and found later he got monkeypox.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Thai PBS World

Two more monkeypox cases confirmed

Two more monkeypox cases have been reported in Thailand, bringing total confirmed infections to 10, according to Dr. Opart Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Disease Control Department.

Both cases were found in Phuket province, with one being a 37-year-old Thai woman and the other a 54-year-old German man, who had been in close contact with the infected woman.

The woman developed a fever, sore throat and muscle pains on September 16th and took medication she bought from a pharmacy, but blisters later appeared on her body.

On September 25th she went to a hospital for treatment and lab tests confirmed her monkeypox infection.

The German man also developed blisters on September 27th and a hospital test confirmed his infection. Both are now being treated in hospital.

Dr. Opart said that Thailand has taken a pro-active approach in dealing with monkeypox, adding that anyone who has been in close contact with anyone suspected of being infected or who has developed symptoms can seek a consultation at their nearest health facility or call the Disease Control Department’s hotline at 1422.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got the first and perhaps my only shot of monkey pox vaccine in Vancouver on Thursday. I was going there anyway and was able to book an appointment. But it was taking walk-ins too. The clinic was in a downtown health centre. It was at street level with lots of signs and it was a beautiful day so the door was propped wide open. Obviously no concerns about haters trying to disrupt the clinic or harass anybody. It wasn't busy, but always at least one or two guys waiting. They didn't ask any awkward questions, just, did I read the criteria and did I qualify. The risks the nurse mentioned were contact with clothing and sharing eating utensils, which I found funny, because let's be honest, those aren't the risks I've been thinking about.  Anyway, I feel better about travelling this winter. And grateful to the public health unit in metro Vancouver for providing the vaccine to people from out of province. They're only giving one shot for now, but it's a start. No swelling or pain, etc, from the shot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
On 10/3/2022 at 1:42 AM, xpaulo said:

Got the first and perhaps my only shot of monkey pox vaccine in Vancouver on Thursday. I was going there anyway and was able to book an appointment. But it was taking walk-ins too. The clinic was in a downtown health centre. It was at street level with lots of signs and it was a beautiful day so the door was propped wide open. Obviously no concerns about haters trying to disrupt the clinic or harass anybody. It wasn't busy, but always at least one or two guys waiting. They didn't ask any awkward questions, just, did I read the criteria and did I qualify. The risks the nurse mentioned were contact with clothing and sharing eating utensils, which I found funny, because let's be honest, those aren't the risks I've been thinking about.  Anyway, I feel better about travelling this winter. And grateful to the public health unit in metro Vancouver for providing the vaccine to people from out of province. They're only giving one shot for now, but it's a start. No swelling or pain, etc, from the shot.

Interestingly, Globe & Mail reports 2nd Imvamune dose option just released in BC, as long as 28-day interval satisfied. Not sure what other provinces will do. I have read all the published research and the updated NACI guidance; won’t pursue the 2nd dose at this time, if offered in Quebec, due to Vaccinia inoculation history and the degree of current case point prevalence.

Just completed a few brothel days in Bogotá. Not much awareness of the disease and no vaxx access. Nude Sunday was interesting. Very robust COVID-related fomite sanitation, no masks. Ironically, many inhabitants plunking their bare ass on a seat with imprints of bare asses whose seating preceded. Let’s dub it ‘Domino Pox Domingo’. Disease point prevalence low in genpop but much greater in a queer baths population. And you had to pay extra admission for the option to wear any garment whatsoever!!!! The transactional massage/sex rooms, however, were well naturally lit on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Great sex in spite of assiduous avoidance of de hombre a hombre mucosal contact and grungy seediness of diminutive interaction space. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/3/2022 at 2:48 AM, scott456 said:

However, the injection leaves an ugly dark spot on my arm.

second vaxx injection site took a full 4-weeks to heal.  seems to be common.  was told do not scratch & or touch for first 48 hours

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From the Thaiger

BANGKOK

Thailand’s 11th monkeypox patient confirmed in Bangkok

Thailand’s 11th monkeypox patient has been confirmed in Bangkok. The acting director-general of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) said today that the patient is a 40 year old masseur.

The masseur returned to Bangkok from Qatar on Saturday. The DDC’s acting director-general, Dr Tares Krassanairawiwong, said the man started getting a fever and blisters on his hands and legs on October 8, while he was still in Qatar, Thai PBS reported.

Meanwhile, the department’s deputy director-general says that Thailand’s 10 previous monkeypox patients have all recovered from the disease. Dr Tares said that health officials are investigating to find if there are any more infections. 

The latest patient is not the first person in Thailand to have monkeypox after returning from the Middle East. Another patient confirmed with monkeypox last month, a 23 year old man, had also returned from Qatar. A 25 year old womanconfirmed with monkeypox in August had returned from Dubai.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

Not great advice when the Monkeypox vaccine is not currenty available in Thailand!

these  articles may be helpful.  the second one says Mpox more difficult to spread than initial predictions 

What Happened to Monkeypox?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/briefing/monkeypox-cases.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/10/17/1129234501/monkeypox-cases-in-the-u-s-are-way-down-can-the-virus-be-eliminated

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/19/2022 at 7:31 PM, Slvkguy said:

Sorry but I have written before that some newspapers like the NYT and the SCMP in Hong Kong are behind a paywall. It would really help if articles were posted verbatim if that's possible. Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oct. 13, 2022

A few months ago, monkeypox regularly made headlines as a major new disease outbreak. Then it largely vanished from the news.

What happened in the meantime? The virus receded: Since a peak in early August, reported monkeypox cases in the U.S. have fallen more than 85 percent through yesterday.

The rise and fall of monkeypox provide lessons on the spread of diseases — an aspect of public health that experts acknowledge we still know far too little about. Covid has made clear that much of the world was not prepared for a deadly pandemic. Monkeypox, while nowhere as dangerous as Covid, can shed light on our vulnerabilities (as my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli explained).

Today’s newsletter will look at why monkeypox declined, and what that might mean for future outbreaks.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

 
Possible explanations

Ultimately, monkeypox in the U.S. has been contained to a narrow demographic, mostly gay and bisexual men with multiple partners. It was never very deadly; there were just 28 confirmed deaths globally out of more than 72,000 reported cases. (I wrote earlier about the virusand how it spreads.)

Daily average monkeypox cases in the U.S.

 
monkeypox-600.png

400 cases

200

June

2022

July

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Note: Chart shows seven-day averages through Oct. 12.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

By The New York Times

Four factors explain monkeypox’s decline, experts said. First, vaccines helped slow the virus’s spread (despite a rocky rollout). Second, gay and bisexual men reduced activities, such as sex with multiple partners, that spread the virus more quickly.

The third reason is related: the Pride Month effect. Monkeypox began to spread more widely around June, when much of the world celebrated L.G.B.T.Q. Pride. Beyond the parades and rallies, some parties and other festivities involved casual sex. As the celebrations dwindled, so did the increased potential for monkeypox to spread.

ADVERTISEMENT

And finally, the virus simply burned out. Monkeypox mainly spreads through close contact, making it harder to transmit than a pathogen that is primarily airborne, like the coronavirus. “Because of that, monkeypox is a self-limiting virus,” Apoorva told me. That made it less likely to grow into a larger outbreak.

Much of this explanation may sound familiar after more than two years of Covid: A virus can be tamed by vaccines and behavioral changes.

 

 
Unclear communication

Another factor worth emphasizing: public health communication. During Covid, officials have sometimes given unclear or misleading guidance because they did not trust the public with the truth.

A similar phenomenon played out with monkeypox. Some officials were cautious about explicitly labeling monkeypox as a greater risk to gay and bisexual men and asking them to reduce risky sexual activities, out of fear of stigmatizing a population that already faces discrimination over AIDS.

ADVERTISEMENT

New York City’s health department initially opposed recommending that gay and bisexual men reduce their number of sexual partners, arguing that L.G.B.T.Q. people have had “their sex lives dissected, prescribed and proscribed in myriad ways.” (Internally, the agency debated whether that was the right response.) Those concerns stopped officials from clearly communicating the dangers to the population most at risk.

Eventually, public health officials began tailoring their warnings toward gay and bisexual men. In late July, the World Health Organization’s director general said that men who have sex with men should consider limiting their number of sexual partners. The C.D.C. and New York City’s health department echoed the guidance.

And it appeared to work: Monkeypox cases began to decline. That shift in public messaging enabled two of the four factors I explained earlier, as officials targeted gay and bisexual men for vaccine drives, and men who have sex with men limited riskier activities.

But the clearer guidance came after weeks of criticism, exposing a habit of unclear messaging that keeps the country vulnerable to health crises.

 

 
Unpredictable viruses

For all we do know about monkeypox’s decline, there is much we don’t know. We are still in “the cave ages” in understanding the spread of viruses, Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, has said.

Much of that lack of knowledge is related to the unpredictability of human behavior. Scientists can map viruses down to the atomic level but have a hard time guessing what people will do at any given point. And people are the ones spreading viruses, whether it’s Covid at Christmas parties or monkeypox at Pride celebrations.

That uncertainty opens the possibility that monkeypox could spread again. People most in danger of contracting the virus may skip the vaccine because its spread has slowed, or they could resume risky activities too soon, before cases are low enough to stop another outbreak. Or another major event, like next year’s Pride Month, could bring monkeypox back.

And the virus still regularly spreads in western and central Africa, where it was first found in humans and has never been fully contained — putting it one flight away from the U.S. or Europe. “I don’t see any progress on addressing that,” said Dr. Céline Gounder, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation. (The U.S. is working with Japan to distribute more vaccine doses globally, Politico reported yesterday.)

The good news: This year’s outbreak has made officials take monkeypox more seriously. So if it does come back, the country may be more prepared to deploy vaccines and take other steps to fight it. But success depends on how people react.

 

 
More health news
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Thai PBS World 

The Disease Control Department has identified Thailand’s 12th monkeypox case, in an Omani male tourist in Phuket, Dr.Tares Krassanairawiwong, the department’s director-general, disclosed today (Monday).

He said that the 25-year-old arrived in Thailand from Oman on October 3rd and then travelled to Phuket the following day with three friends.

Initial information shows that, while in Phuket, the man visited some entertainment venues and restaurants which serve Middle Eastern food, but did not have sex with anyone.

On October 11th, he began to develop a fever, cough and headache, followed by blisters appearing on his body and genitals. He went to a hospital in the Pa Tong area for treatment on October 18th, where medical staff took samples from him to be sent to the medical science centre for analysis.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...