Though gay and bisexual men are currently at highest risk, health officials have repeatedly emphasized that anyone can catch monkeypox through physical contact with someone infected with the virus or via contaminated materials such as towels and bedsheets.
A surge of patients who need vaccines, testing and treatment for the disease as infections rise are putting pressure on a system already strapped for resources after years of underfunding, physicians say.
Monkeypox is rarely fatal, and no deaths have been reported in the U.S. But some patients suffer pain so excruciating from the rash, which often develops on the genitals or anus, that they require hospitalization."Unless you potentially experienced pain in these sensitive areas, it's hard to maybe conceptualize what this is, but this is not something that's cleared up with some antibiotics in a matter of days. People are living with this pain for weeks" said Dr.
"We've now had two in a row, outbreaks that were not managed in a way that allowed them to be contained," Carpenter said."This is going to take a coordinated and committed and comprehensive public health strategy that goes from top to bottom and treats it just as seriously as Covid was," he said.
Hazra said the number of people coming in for monkeypox screenings at Howard Brown Health in Chicago has increased exponentially since May.Some U.S. lawmakers and local communities have criticized the pace of the federal government's response, but Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said last week the Biden administration has done everything it can to ramp up the availability of vaccines, testing and treatment to fight the outbreak.
"There's absolutely not enough funding," Carpenter said."Local health centers like ours play a really important role in responses like this, but we don't have the capacity to turn on a dime, shift and double our capacity to be able to handle whoever needs it."Carpenter said the demand for monkeypox vaccines is enormous and is still outstripping supply. Staff spent all day, every day vaccinating people last week, he said.
"We are currently scheduled out three weeks in advance in terms of a vaccine appointments," Hazra said. Howard Brown Health has administered 2,800 doses to date. The approach is far from perfect, Carpenter said, because there are many people who haven't caught an STD in the past year who are also at risk for monkeypox.
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