Chordopoxvirinae

An illustration of monkeypox viruses, the germs that cause mpox.Illustration: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)The World Health Organization is officially renaming the emerging viral disease known as monkeypox. On Monday, WHO announced that it will now use the term “mpox” instead, which is likely to be adopted widely by doctors, public health agencies, and others. The change was prompted by criticism from scientists that the old name was inaccurate and potentially stigmatizing.The campaign to change monkeypox’s name began…

Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers some good and bad news about the country’s ongoing monkeypox outbreak. New cases are slowing down, likely thanks to a combination of vaccination and education efforts. But it’s also likely that the virus won’t be eradicated here and will continue to circulate locally at low levels.The prognosis comes from the CDC’s most recent technical report on monkeypox released late last week. According to the report, based…

Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)A Texas resident has died with monkeypox, local health officials reported Tuesday—seemingly the first death linked to the emerging viral disease ever documented in the U.S. The person reportedly had preexisting health issues, and officials are still investigating the extent to which the infection may have contributed to their death.Monkeypox, a relative of the extinct smallpox virus, has recently spread far beyond the few areas of Africa where it was known to be endemic. There have been …

An example of monkeypox rashes. Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)A 36-year-old man in Italy appears to be uniquely unlucky, after he was hospitalized and diagnosed with covid-19, monkeypox, and HIV over a span of a single week in July. Thankfully, his covid and monkeypox co-infections did successfully clear up without issue, and he has since been placed on HIV treatment.His doctors describe this unfortunate medical tale in a case report published last week in the Journal of Infection. According to the report, the man…

Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)A dog in France appears to have contracted monkeypox from his owners, in what seems to be the first known case of human-to-dog transmission of the emerging viral illness. The dog likely caught the infection while sleeping in the same bed as his owners. A team of infectious disease doctors based primarily at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, France published their report last week in the Lancet.On June 10, two men visited the hospital withsymptoms of monkeypox, namely a…

A vial of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine.Photo: Mario Tama (Getty Images)The United States government has just declared a public health emergency over the growing monkeypox outbreak. The alert follows a similar declaration by the World Health Organization made last month, as well as ones made by individual states. There have been over 25,000 cases of the viral illness reported worldwide this year—an unprecedented spread for the usually rare illness—including more than 6,000 confirmedin the U.S.The last national public…

A swab specimen containing monkeypox virus is labeled ‘Bio Alert’ at the UW Medicine Virology Laboratory on July 12, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. Photo: Karen Ducey (Getty Images)The World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) over the current global outbreak of monkeypox. The declaration comes amid an ongoing rise in cases from dozens of countries this year, including over 2,000 cases reported in the United States.In late June, the WHO convened an advisory committee…

3D illustration of monkeypox virusIllustration: Kateryna Kon (Shutterstock)The New York City Health Department will begin offering the monkeypox vaccine preemptively to men who have sex with men and have had multiple recent partners. Appointments are available as soon as Friday.The agency made the announcement two days before Pride festivities kick off in the city. It had already been collaborating with NYC Health and Hospitals in offering the vaccine to those who were close contacts with someone suspected or confirmed to…

Image: Science Photo Library (AP)UK health officials are planning to more widely offer smallpox vaccines—which are effective against the related monkeypox virus—to some gay and bisexual men. The expanded outreach is part of a renewed strategy to contain the emerging viral disease, which recently has spread far beyond the few areas of the world where it was previously endemic. Outbreaks this year have been concentrated among men who sleep with men, but the virus can spread to anyone through close contact and possibly…

A medical laboratory technician shows a test sample from someone suspected to have monkeypox.Image: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez (Getty Images)The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping up its guidance concerning monkeypox. While the risk of monkeypox is still thought to be low for the general public, the agency is now warning people to take more precautions while traveling. These precautions include avoiding contact with visibly sick people as well as wearing a mask.The CDC changed its language over the…