There's this man in Massachusetts who was just recently traveled to Canada and came back to the United States sick with what has been diagnosed as a case of monkeypox.
Yes, this is a real disease. And apparently it's very serious.
From the New York Times:
A man who had traveled to Canada has been diagnosed with the monkeypox virus, a rare and potentially fatal disease, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported on Wednesday.
This is the first report of monkeypox this year in the United States. Officials in Texas and Maryland recorded one case each last year. But the new case follows a series of unusual clusters in other countries that have begun to alarm public health officials.
Okay, so there's this one guy in Massachusetts and we had one in Texas and one in Maryland last year. That's not so bad.
But there's more.
In the past few weeks, Britain has identified nine monkeypox cases. Only one patient had recently traveled — to Nigeria, where a strain of the monkeypox virus has been commonly seen — while the remaining British patients, who did not travel, may have acquired the infection through community transmission. Three patients shared a household.
Spain has 23 suspected cases. Portugal has confirmed five cases and is investigating another 15. Canadian health officials are investigating at least 15 possible cases in Montreal, according to an infectious disease specialist who was familiar with the effort but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Alright, so this monkey disease is quite literally popping up all over the world even among people who don't travel.
This is starting to get concerning.
"The fact that it's in the U.K. in multiple unrelated clusters, plus Spain, plus Portugal, is a surprise," said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Monkeypox is a more benign version of the smallpox virus and can be treated with an antiviral drug developed for smallpox. But unlike measles, Covid or influenza, monkeypox does not typically cause large outbreaks.
Alright, so it's not a big deal, easy to spot, and largely treatable. It also doesn't transmit easily at all between people unless you come into contact with open sores or have someone breathe right inside your mouth.
But I think just to be safe we should all wear masks, social distance, and definitely switch exclusively to mail-in voting!!!
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