This shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced. (NIAID via AP, File)
The death toll from monkeypox recently hit 10 in the U.S. but there is a decline in cases, according to a report from The Washington Post. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recently released a report showing the disease is more deadly for those with weakened immune systems.
Patients with HIV and AIDS had more severe and sometimes fatal reactions after becoming infected with monkeypox. Of 57 patients under physicians’ care for the disease, all had painful legions on their bodies.
The Post reported two patients were in chemotherapy, three had organ transplants, and a third of patients had to be placed in intensive care. Most of the patients hospitalized were Black.
“This is an important description of severe consequences of monkeypox and should highlight the critical importance of getting vaccines, treatment and risk messaging to the communities who are most severely impacted,” Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at UCLA who has studied monkeypox in Africa for two decades, told the Post.
“The disproportionate impact on communities that have less access to health services is the same story we see repeating itself locally and globally,” Rimion continued.
The CDC is asking all doctors to test patients infected with monkeypox for HIV. The disease is also likely here to stay, according to some health officials.
“It’s in many geographic locations within the country,” Marc Lipsitch, the director of science at the CDC, told The Associated Press. “There’s no clear path in our mind to complete elimination domestically.”
Spread primarily through gay and bisexual men, the disease is said to have peaked in August. More than 28,000 cases have been reported in America since the first one in May. Over 97 percent of monkeypox cases in the U.S. are men.
PHOTO: This image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Md. With monkeypox cases subsiding in Europe and parts of North America in 2022, many scientists say now is the time to prioritize stopping the virus in Africa. (NIAID via AP, File)
