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(NEW YORK) — With seven people in the U.S. now confirmed or presumed to have monkeypox, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the risk remains low and there’s no evidence the virus has evolved to be more transmissible.
“This is not COVID,” Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology at the CDC, said during a media briefing Monday.
There is one confirmed positive case in Massachusetts. There is one presumptive positive case in New York, one in Washington state, two in Utah and two in Florida.
The CDC said Monday that the government is in the process of releasing some vaccines from its national stockpile. There is no need to vaccinate the general public against monkeypox, officials said. Rather, those vaccines will be used among a small number people who have been exposed.
Still, CDC officials cautioned that more cases are likely, and the agency is now raising awareness among men who identify as gay or bisexual.
“I think that we need to pay close attention to the communities in which this might be circulating, so that we can communicate effectively with them and help bring this outbreak under control,” McQuiston said.
Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection, and anyone can become infected regardless of sexual orientation.
The virus, a less-transmissible cousin of smallpox, is passed through close contact with another person, including hugging, touching or prolonged face-to-face contact.
An early cluster of monkeypox cases in London was among a nuclear family who lived in the same household.
But health officials say many early clusters in Europe and Canada happened among groups of men who have sex with men, with some ongoing transmission reported in this community.
“Anyone — anyone can develop and spread monkeypox infection,” Dr. John Brooks, medical epidemiologist, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the CDC, said. “But, many of those affected in the current global outbreak identify as gay and bisexual men. We want to help people make the best-informed decisions to protect their health.”
Specifically, the CDC is now warning people to watch out for a distinctive rash in the genital region, which could be confused with an STI.
(NEW YORK) — In the wake of Pfizer’s new pediatric COVID-19 vaccine data for children under the age of 5, which was released on Monday, the Food and Drug Administration has set new, tentative dates for when its advisers will meet to discuss the COVID-19 vaccine applications for children.
The FDA said it expects its independent Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee to convene in mid-June to discuss both Pfizer and Moderna’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccines.
“As we continue to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there are a number of anticipated submissions and scientific questions that will benefit from discussion with our advisory committee members,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement on Monday.
Although children 5 years and older already have access to a COVID-19 vaccine — and now a booster shot — through Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine, on June 14, the committee will meet to discuss Moderna’s emergency use authorization request for children ages 6 to 17 years of age.
The next day, on June 15, the committee will meet to discuss both Moderna’s emergency authorization request for children ages 6 months to under 6 years of age and Pfizer and BioNTech’s authorization request for children ages 6 months to under 5 years of age.
The new dates confirm the FDA anticipates that its advisers will review both Moderna and Pfizer’s applications for young children at the same time, which would indicate that both vaccines could be authorized by the end of June.
The FDA emphasized the dates are tentative, but officials noted that should any of the submissions be completed in a “timely manner and the data support a clear path forward following our evaluation,” the agency will move forward and convene the committee at an earlier or later date.
On June 8, 21 and 22, the FDA has held dates for its advisers to meet to discuss updates to the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech emergency use authorization requests. As more data and information is submitted by the companies, additional scheduling details will be released, officials wrote.
“The agency is committed to a thorough and transparent process that considers the input of our independent advisers and provides insight into our review of the COVID-19 vaccines. We intend to move quickly with any authorizations that are appropriate once our work is completed,” Marks said.
Ahead of an anticipated fall and winter surge, the FDA also announced new dates for the committee to discuss a possible new generation of COVID-19 vaccines, which could address already circulating variants.
The FDA also plans to convene its advisers on June 28 to discuss whether the COVID-19 strain composition of the vaccines should be modified for the fall.
Federal regulators are expected to decide on a new COVID-19 vaccine design in early July, which would allow vaccine companies to begin production for rollout this fall and winter.
“We’ll have to make some decision by early July to make sure that the manufacturers know what we’re looking to do, so that they know what they have to start producing in large quantities,” Marks told ABC News in an interview, last week.
Additionally, the FDA’s advisers are expected to meet on June 7 to discuss an EUA request for a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Novavax to protect against COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older.
Novavax asked for emergency authorization of its protein-based vaccine earlier this year in January.
Novavax was part of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed — the multibillion-dollar program that was created at the onset of the pandemic to quickly bring safe and effective vaccines to market.
(NEW YORK) — In long-awaited data, Pfizer said its 3-dose vaccine was 80% effective against symptomatic omicron COVID-19 infection among children 6 months to under 5 years old.
The company cautioned that estimate was preliminary and could be adjusted as more data is collected. The trial wasn’t big enough to estimate protection against severe disease, which experts expect to be higher.
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For all age groups, vaccine efficacy against more mild breakthrough infections waned in the face of the highly transmissible omicron variant, but efficacy against severe disease and death remained high for most age groups.
Pfizer announced in December that it would not move forward with a two-dose vaccine after disappointing data, instead opting to study three doses for this age group. The company will submit the new data as part of its ongoing “rolling” submission to the FDA.
For anxious parents, the Pfizer news offers reassurance that the vaccine help protect young children currently not eligible for vaccination.
The news doesn’t change the overall timeline for when vaccines for this age group could be available. For the youngest Americans, vaccines from both Pfizer and Moderna are expected to be authorized in June or July, likely as a two-dose vaccine for Pfizer and a three-dose vaccine for Moderna, though Moderna is also studying a third dose.
Pfizer also said its vaccine was safe, with a similar safely profile as placebo shots. If authorized, this vaccine would be 3 shots of 3 micrograms each. Each dose is one-tenth the adult dose.
“We are pleased that our formulation for the youngest children, which we carefully selected to be one-tenth of the dose strength for adults, was well tolerated and produced a strong immune response,” said Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive officer, in prepared remarks.
Moderna, meanwhile, asked the FDA for authorization on April 28 for a two-dose vaccine for this age range. Moderna’s preliminary analysis found its two-dose pediatric vaccine was 51% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 among children 6 months to under 2 years old, and 27% among children 2 to 5 years old — roughly the same efficacy seen in adults during the omicron surge. Protection against serious disease and death was higher.
“I anticipate a lot of parents will be asking whether they should choose a two-dose Moderna vaccine or the three-dose Pfizer vaccine,” said Dr. Alok Patel, pediatric hospitalist at Stanford Children’s health and an ABC News contributor. “I would recommend that parents pay attention to the FDA and CDC’s guidance and what final analysis reveals for both vaccines.”
Experts caution that vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infection is a high bar, and experts expect these vaccines will offer excellent protection against severe illness, just as they do for adults.
This development means Pfizer is one step closer to submitting its vaccine for an emergency use authorization. It will likely be reviewed by the FDA’s advisers at meetings on June 21 and 22, and if authorized, be available sometime in early July.
It’s possible that the FDA’s advisers could review Moderna’s data even earlier — on June 8 — but no agenda has been released. It also depends on the time it takes FDA to sift through Moderna’s application, which includes a request to authorize its vaccine not only for the youngest kids, but also kids 6 to 17.
Though the FDA’s leaders have repeatedly said they would not unnecessarily hold up Moderna’s authorization, it’s possible that the FDA’s panel of independent experts call for authorizing Moderna and Pfizer side-by-side.
Because they’re both for the same general age group but are different vaccines with different levels of protection, some experts believe it will be easier to authorize them together and allow parents to choose which vaccine to give their kids with all of the information available.
But many parents and pediatricians want the vaccine that’s available soonest, after two grueling years of waiting.
Though children under five is the last remaining age group that’s yet to be vaccinated, polls indicate there could be sluggish uptake.
A recent survey from KFF found that just under 1 in 5 parents are eager to get their children under five vaccinated right away.
However, the KFF poll more than half of parents said that they feel they do not have enough information about the vaccines’ safety and efficacy for children under age 5 — which could change after the public FDA advisory meetings to discuss the pediatric data.
“Parents should also be aware that this preliminary data will be supplemented by additional data in June, which will then be thoroughly reviewed by both the FDA and the CDC,” Patel said.
(NEW YORK) — Another child in the U.S. has died in connection with the mysterious cases of severe hepatitis that have been occurring among children around the country and the globe, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Friday.
Investigators learned of the additional death on Thursday, Dr. Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases for the CDC, told reporters during a phone briefing.
Officials had previously reported that the deaths of five other children were under investigation in connection to the disease.
“Unfortunately, the illness in many of these patients is severe … and the extent of the injury to the liver can be quite extensive. And so, this is clearly a severe disease that we’re taking very carefully for that reason, and the proportion of these, despite treatment, do unfortunately die,” said Dr. Umesh Parashar, chief of the viral gastroenteritis branch at the CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases.
As reported earlier this week, the CDC is now investigating at least 180 cases of severe hepatitis with unknown cause among children across 36 states and territories — an increase from the 109 cases that were reported earlier this month. Fifteen of the 180 children who are connected to the investigation in the U.S. have required a transplant, officials said Friday. At this time, there is no epidemiological link between the cases.
The “vast majority” of these cases are retrospective, as far back as October 2021, officials said, while only 7% of cases have been over the past two weeks.
“I know we’re all eager for information, especially regarding what’s causing these illnesses in young children. We continue to work with clinicians and our state and local public health partners to gather more detailed data, but I want to caution that it does take time to assess the evidence,” Butler explained.
“This is an evolving situation and an ongoing investigation, but it’s important to note that severe hepatitis and children remain rare,” Butler said.
Investigators continue to work to identify whether the outbreak represents a true increase in the number of severe hepatitis cases in children, or whether an existing pattern has now been uncovered, thanks to improvement in detection of these cases.
“While rare, children do sometimes get serious hepatitis, and it’s not uncommon … for the cause to be unknown,” Butler added.
There is no evidence to suggest, so far, he said, that the word “spike” is appropriate to describe the current emergence of cases.
“The question of whether or not this is something that has been ongoing for even longer, and we’re just recognizing that now I think is a very reasonable one. So, I think ultimately, really all we can say for sure at this point in time is we’re not seeing a dramatic increase in the number of cases,” Butler said
The “leading hypothesis” remains adenovirus, with evidence “accumulating” that it may have a role, though that exact role continues to be investigated. Also, under consideration is whether a prior infection of COVID-19 is playing a role, as well as the impact of mitigation measures, as many children have not been exposed to viruses in recent years due to quarantines, and thus, there may be a “catch-up” factor, Butler added.
There are numerous other lines of investigation into whether there could be a further connection with COVID-19, or other co-factors, officials reported.
Butler reiterated that any connection to COVID-19 vaccines seems “really unlikely to be playing a direct role,” particularly given that most of these children are too young to receive the vaccine.
The CDC continues to encourage parents to be on the lookout for the symptoms of hepatitis, such as vomiting, dark urine, light colored stool and yellowing of the skin, and to contact their child’s pediatrician if they are at all concerned.
(NEW YORK) — New York City health officials are investigating a possible case of monkeypox as they reported more infections across the globe.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a press release Thursday that the patient is being cared for at NYC Health + Hospitals / Bellevue in midtown Manhattan.
Officials say they will conduct preliminary tests and if the patient is positive, the sample will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmatory testing.
“The Department’s epidemiologists will follow up with any individual who may have been in contact with the patient while infectious,” the release said.
It’s unclear what symptoms the patient is experiencing and what their age, sex and ethnicity are.
The news comes as the CDC sent out a health alert Friday warning doctors and local health departments to be on the lookout for patients who may have symptoms of monkeypox and report those cases to the CDC.
The CDC reiterated that the “risk to the public appears low.”
Monkeypox is a very rare disease typically not found outside of countries in central and western Africa.
However, several cases have been detected around the world since a patient in the United Kingdom tested positive on May 7 following travel to Nigeria.
The World Health Organization confirmed Friday there are approximately 130 confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases in nations where the disease is not endemic.
Of those cases, about 80 were confirmed — including one case in an adult male in Massachusetts — and 50 suspected.
The agency said it is working with those countries to provide guidance, and more cases are likely to be reported.
Humans can contract monkeypox from infected animals, such as through a bite or scratch, but it can also be transmitted through direct contact with an infected animal’s skin, blood or feces, or indirect contact through contaminated surfaces. Humans can also be infected when hunting wild animals or preparing bush meat for consumption.
The disease can also spread from person-to-person via large respiratory droplets in the air, through skin lesions, bodily fluids, or contact with contaminated material.
#Monkeypox has so far been reported from 11 countries that normally don’t have the disease. WHO is working with these countries & others to expand surveillance, and provide guidance.
There are about 80 confirmed cases, and 50 pending investigations. More likely to be reported. pic.twitter.com/YQ3pVJVNVQ
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 20, 2022
The WHO said tips for preventing infection include isolating if you have symptoms, avoiding contact with anyone who has symptoms, wearing a mask if you come into contact with an infected individual, and thoroughly cleaning hands and surfaces.
Monkeypox is not commonly reported among Americans and detected cases have been among people who traveled to countries where the virus is endemic.
In 2003, 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported among six U.S. states, the first human cases reported outside of Africa
All the infections occurred after coming into contact with pet prairie dogs, which became infected “after being housed near imported small mammals from Ghana,” the CDC stated.
In July 2021, a case was confirmed in a Texas resident who had recently returned from Nigeria and in November 2021, another case was found in a Maryland resident who had also traveled to Nigeria.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Following the nation’s latest COVID-19 resurgence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday that it is “strengthening” its recommendation for Americans over the age of 12 who are immunocompromised, and those over the age of 50, to receive their second booster shot.
“Over the past month we have seen steady increases in cases, with a steep and substantial increase in hospitalizations for older Americans. While older Americans have the highest coverage of any age group of first booster doses, most older Americans received their last dose (either their primary series or their first booster dose) many months ago, leaving many who are vulnerable without the protection they may need to prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” the CDC wrote.
“Whether it is your first booster, or your second, if you haven’t had a vaccine dose since the beginning of December 2021 and you are eligible, now is the time to get one,” officials said.
During the meeting of the CDC’s independent advisory committee for immunization recommendations on Thursday, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky also re-emphasized the importance of older Americans getting boosted, given concerns over waning immunity amid the nation’s latest COVID-19 surge.
“Only 38% of those 50 to 64 and 43% of those 65 and older have received a vaccine dose in the past six months. This leaves about 60% of older Americans without the protection they may need to prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” Walensky said. “We know immunity wanes over time, and we need to do all we can now to protect those most vulnerable.”
According to CDC data, since second booster doses were authorized in mid-March, a total of 12.4 million Americans have received their second booster. Nearly 12 million — 11.8 million — of those who have received second boosters are people over the age of 50, and 8.4 million of them are over the age of 65.
Although more than 90% of seniors have been fully vaccinated, a third of them have yet to receive their first COVID booster, the CDC found.
A recent ABC News analysis of federal data found that a growing proportion of COVID-19 deaths are occurring among the vaccinated.
The increase in breakthrough deaths comes as a growing proportion of older Americans enter the hospital for COVID-19-related care.
Following the vaccination of high-risk, older populations, in the winter and spring of 2021, the share of Americans ages 65 years and older in the hospital had dipped to a pandemic low — with younger populations representing the largest shares of people requiring care.
However, in recent months, as the omicron surge became dominant, the average age of those in the hospital with COVID-19 has steadily become older, once again.
More than 55% of those currently hospitalized with COVID-19 are over the age of 65, CDC data shows, representing the highest percentage of seniors receiving care since the onset of the pandemic.
In addition, despite overall high initial vaccination rates reported among older populations, during the omicron surge, nearly three-quarters of confirmed COVID-19 deaths have been among those 65 and older.
During an interview with CBS News, earlier this month, Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged that there has been an increase in the number of vaccinated people who are dying of COVID-19, many of whom are elderly, immunocompromised, or have underlying conditions.
“There are vaccinated people who get infected, some of whom go on to severe disease and death. Those are very heavily weighted towards the elderly and those with underlying conditions, those whose immune system is compromised for one reason or another, either through underlying disease or medications that they’re on,” Fauci said.
“As long as you have vulnerable people in the population, even though the unvaccinated are going to be much more at risk, even vaccinated with underlying conditions and a high degree of susceptibility to severe disease will account for those deaths,” Fauci added.
The push to get older Americans boosted comes despite a previously posted recommendation, published by the CDC last week, which states that people could consider waiting to get their second booster, if they have had COVID-19 in the last three months, or if getting the shot now would dissuade them from getting a shot in the fall or in the future.
“A second booster may be more important in fall of 2022, or if a new vaccine for a future COVID-19 variant becomes available,” the CDC says on its website.
During an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America on Friday, White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told George Stephanopoulos that older Americans should not wait to get the second booster or feel deterred about the possibility of having to get another shot in the fall.
“We have a lot of infection out there right now, and what I am recommending to basically everybody over 50 is given how much infection there is given that extra layer of protection that the second booster offers, that there’s no reason to wait,” Jha said. “People should go out and get that second shot and we’ll see where things are in the fall, and if people need additional, we’ll manage it at that point.”
(NEW YORK) — Federal regulators are expected to decide on a new COVID-19 vaccine design in early July, which would allow vaccine companies to begin production for rollout this fall and winter, a top official told ABC News.
Food and Drug Administration vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said the decision would likely come from the FDA shortly after its advisory committee meets on June 28 to review data from the vaccine companies about the versions of next-generation vaccines they’re testing.
The FDA will then make a decision on which type of vaccine the companies should go ahead with, an estimation they’ll base on what could offer the best protection even in the face of new variants this fall and winter, similar to how the flu vaccine is concocted ahead of flu season.
“We’ll have to make some decision by early July to make sure that the manufacturers know what we’re looking to do, so that they know what they have to start producing in large quantities,” Marks, who serves as director of the department that oversees vaccines within the FDA, told ABC News in an interview.
Under consideration is how to give people “the longest duration of a high level of protection” with their vaccines, not just because it’s unrealistic to keep boosting every few months, but also because experts predict another surge in the colder months.
Second boosters for wider age-range?
Already at play, however, is the current surge. Cases are rising and nearly a third of the country is currently at medium- or high-risk community COVID levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That’s why, in the meantime, the FDA is also internally discussing whether to open up second boosters to a wider age-range to mitigate rising cases, Marks said. They’re currently only available for people over 50, or people over 12 who are immunocompromised.
The FDA would have to come to a decision in the next few weeks to intervene effectively, as cases are already on the rise, Marks said.
“I can tell you that that discussion is already happening internally — it’s just that I can’t tell you what the outcome will be at this point,” he said.
“We would not be doing our job as public health professionals if we weren’t thinking about it, and thinking about the benefits and risks,” he added.
For example, hospitalization rates for people under 50 who have received their first booster are still relatively low, Marks said, indicating boosters might not be necessary for younger people. But the FDA is also looking into the risks from even mild infections, like long COVID, and whether booster shots would mitigate that.
Opening up second boosters to more people would just be a stop gap measure, though. The vaccines for the fall are intended to offer a more lengthy, durable protection.
“We’d be looking at things like at least 10% higher in terms of immune response, if not more, against the currently circulating virus,” Marks said, laying out the criteria the FDA is looking for in the future vaccines.
The vaccines would have to be superior, at least against the current variants like omicron and its subvariants, to make it worthwhile to switch over from the vaccines in use now.
Who would get a new vaccine?
Though it could change when the advisory committees meet, Marks said he expects the next-generation boosters to be available for all age groups.
As far as timing, all ages should become eligible around the same time, Marks said, unlike the lengthy waiting periods of months between older and younger age groups with the current vaccines.
And the FDA also hopes to get both vaccine companies, Pfizer and Moderna, to produce vaccines that target the same strains.
“People are very confused about everything, to have different compositions for different vaccines will get things even more confusing,” Marks said.
Booster fatigue a factor
Just 43% of those 65 and older have gotten a vaccine dose in the last six months, be it a first or second booster, according to the CDC, even though nearly 90% of people in that age group got their initial vaccination series.
“From a public health standpoint, what we’ve seen is if it only lasts three or four months, it may be that there’s a recommendation that you get another one, but the vast majority of people are not going to keep coming in and getting more boosters,” said Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
“With each one, we lose some more people,” Wachter said.
Come fall, that fatigue could be exacerbated by calls for yet another booster.
If the vaccine is more effective, though, that could help to convince people it’s worth another round.
Experts are wary that the vaccine this fall will last a full year, but expect it will at least be more effective in its protection because it will be updated with more of the recent variants, whereas the current vaccine is based on the first strain of COVID from 2019.
Dr. Paul Goepfert, director of the Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic, is overseeing research on the new vaccines as part of the National Institute of Health study. They’re looking into vaccines that target just one new variant, like omicron, and vaccines that target a handful of the variants from the past two years, like omicron and delta, both in one shot.
“By the end of all that, for the fall, we’re going to know which of these vaccine combinations gives us the highest antibody response towards the most new and improved variants,” Goepfert said.
He expects the new vaccine will better protect against severe disease, but cautions that stopping all infections is a lofty goal.
“I am hopeful that maybe we could have a yearly vaccine rather than this every few months go back to get the vaccine boost,” Goepfert said, but that’s probably “one or two more tries” away.
Resources in question
Of course, the overarching issue of resources still remains. Who will pay for these new vaccines, or the ones after them?
Congress has yet to strike a deal with the White House for more COVID funding, even as other countries move ahead with negotiations with the vaccine companies.
White House COVID response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha warned on Wednesday that if Congress doesn’t agree to billions in new COVID funding, not every American who wants a vaccine this fall will be able to get one.
Should the FDA decide that not everyone needs a vaccine — that only people over 50, or over 65, need another booster shot — that wouldn’t be an issue. But Marks said he’s hopeful that if “the right thing to do medically” is to recommend them to everyone, of all ages, the country will be able to purchase those doses.
“I’m not worried about who’s paying for what. I’m worried about making sure that our recommendations that come out of FDA are the right thing by the people of this country in terms of their health,” Marks said.
“So we will make a recommendation that, based on all of the available evidence, comports with what we see would do the best by public health in the coming year,” he added.
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(NEW YORK) — A Massachusetts resident has tested positive for monkeypox, health officials confirmed Wednesday, making it the first case of the rare virus detected in the United States this year.
According to a release from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the patient is an adult male who recently traveled to Canada. The department completed initial testing Tuesday and was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The case poses no risk to the public, and the individual is hospitalized and in good condition,” MDPH stated in a press release. “DPH is working closely with the CDC, relevant local boards of health, and the patient’s health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious.”
The New York City Department of Health announced Thursday that it was investigating a possible case of monkeypox. The patient is being cared for at Bellevue Hospital and all appropriate isolation measures are being followed, according to the department. The patient’s tests will be sent to the CDC for confirmatory testing, the department said.
It comes after four more cases of monkeypox were identified in the U.K recently, bringing its nationwide total to nine since the beginning of May.
The resident was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on May 12 and “during the course of their admission they were identified as a possible monkeypox suspect,” Dr. Erica Shenoy, associate chief of the hospital’s infection control unit, told reporters during a briefing Wednesday.
Hearing about cases of monkeypox in the U.K. encouraged doctors to “think more broadly about the patient’s diagnosis,” Shenoy said.
Hospital officials said they are unaware of any cases in Canada at this time and do not know where the resident may have contracted the disease.
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus. The first case among humans was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970, and the illness has since spread to several other nations, mostly in central and western Africa.
It can transmit from animals to humans when an infected animal — such as a rodent or a primate — bites or scratches a person. The CDC said humans can also be infected when hunting wild animals or preparing bush meat for consumption.
The disease can also spread from person to person via large respiratory droplets in the air, but they cannot travel more than a few feet, so two people would need to have prolonged close contact.
The most common symptoms are fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches.
Very few cases of monkeypox have been identified among Americans.
According to the CDC, the disease does not naturally occur in the U.S. Infections are usually identified among people who recently traveled to countries where monkeypox is more commonly found.
In 2003, 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported in six U.S. states, the first human cases reported outside of Africa.
All the infections occurred after coming into contact with pet prairie dogs, which in turn became infected “after being housed near imported small mammals from Ghana,” the CDC stated.
Since then, just two other cases have been detected in the U.S., both associated with travel.
In July 2021, a case was confirmed in a Texas resident who had recently returned from Nigeria and in November 2021, another case was found in a Maryland resident who had also traveled to Nigeria.
ABC News’ William Gretsky contributed to this report.
Jepayona Delita/Future Publishing via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Countries in Europe and North America are continuing to report more cases of monkeypox, but experts say the disease so far does not pose a serious risk to the public.
At least 17 infections of the rare disease have been confirmed in non-endemic areas such as the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden and Italy, and dozens of possible cases are under investigation in those nations as well as in Canada and Spain.
Most cases occur when people encounter infected animals in countries where the virus is endemic — typically central and western Africa as occurred with the outbreak’s first case, reported in England on May 7 among a person who had recently traveled to Nigeria.
However, none of the remaining eight cases in the U.K had travel history and did not have contact with the patient who had visited Nigeria, according to the U.K. Health Security Agency, suggesting there is some level of community transmission.
Similarly, the first infection recorded in the U.S. was in an adult male from Massachusetts who had recently traveled to Canada, and now at least 17 cases are being investigated by Canadian authorities.
Health experts stress the risk to the public remains low and most people don’t need to be immediately fearful of contracting the illness.
“It is a virus in a very different class from COVID-19,” Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, told ABC News. “It predominantly lives in animal reservoirs so it sort of by accident gets to humans and it may cause sporadic illness or relatively small outbreaks.”
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which was first identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1958 in monkeys being kept for research.
The first human case was detected in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“It’s important to note this is not a new virus,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “This has been around for a long while. It’s mostly endemic in parts of western Africa but you will occasionally see it in other parts of the world.”
People are typically infected by animals through a bite or a scratch or through preparation and consumption of contaminated bush meat.
The disease can also spread from person-to-person via large respiratory droplets in the air, but they cannot travel more than a few feet so two people would need to have prolonged close contact.
“It transmits through large droplets, which don’t travel very far, or through contact with lesions themselves or touching someone with bed linens or clothes or recent contact with lesions,” Doron said. “It’s not something you get without very close intimate contact, which is why it doesn’t tend to cause outbreaks.”
She added this transmission route is different from that of COVID-19, which is spread through small aerosols that can hang in the air for several minutes.
“Aerosols are not subject to gravity but large droplets, they get pulled to the ground,” Doron said. “Also, monkeypox isn’t an illness that is transmitted during the asymptomatic phase, which is what made COVID such a formidable foe.”
Monkeypox generally is a mild illness with the most common symptoms being fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches.
Patients can develop a rash and lesions that often begin on the face before spreading to the rest of the body.
“It starts out as spots, then small blisters like you’ll see with chickenpox, then pus-filled blisters and then they scab over,” Doron explained. “It’s a long illness. It lasts a few weeks, but you can be contagious for several weeks and contagious until the blisters scab over.”
ABC News confirmed Thursday the CDC is monitoring six Americans who were on the same flight as the British patient who tested positive after traveling to Nigeria.
“They will be followed by health officials for 21 days following their last possible contact with the ill traveler,” the CDC said in a statement. “None of the six have any symptoms of monkeypox and the risk for them is very low.”
Health officials said it is likely that more cases will emerge either in the U.S. or in other countries, but that Americans should not be concerned.
“We will find more cases,” Brownstein said. “There is now heightened public awareness and clearly there will be more clinicians that will be able to recognize the symptoms.”
He continued, “But for now, there’s nothing to suggest this will have anywhere near the same global impact as COVID-19. The risk to the general public is low.”
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent advisory committee has given the green light for Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 booster shots to be given to children ages 5 to 11 years old, paving the way for parents to get their children boosted as early as Friday morning.
The panel voted 11-1-1 in favor of approval. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is expected to make the final signoff to recommend the shots shortly.
“We have the tools we need to protect these people from severe disease, and to prevent any more tragic deaths,” Walensky said during brief remarks at the beginning of the meeting. “It’s important for us to anticipate where this pandemic is moving and deploy the tools we have where they will have the greatest impact.”
Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the booster shots among younger children to be used at least five months after completing their first round of shots.
Children over the age of 5 became eligible for vaccination against COVID-19 in November, so the first kids who were in line for their shot have now had about six months of protection.
Pfizer asked the FDA in April to authorize its booster vaccines for younger children, after it submitted data that indicated their shot was safe and generated a strong immune response.
Vaccine effectiveness after two doses against symptomatic infection “quickly declined for children and adolescents during omicron,” Dr. Ruth Link-Gelles, who leads the COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness program for the CDC’s Epidemiology Task Force, said on Thursday. A booster dose in adolescents significantly improved effectiveness — up to 71% — in the weeks and months after receiving the third dose.
Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization after doses for children ages 5 to 11 years old hovered around 68%, to a median of 37 days after the second dose, while effectiveness stood around 51% in adolescents.
“Some waning” was evident when analyzing declining vaccine effectiveness for hospitalization in adolescents who had received two doses. However, Link-Gelles reported that there was not enough data to assess waning effectiveness in children ages 5 to 11 or the impact of boosters against hospitalization in children ages 12 to 15.
The benefits of the booster dose outweighed any known and potential risks and a booster dose can help provide continued protection against COVID-19, officials said, particularly given concerns over waning immunity.
Many panelists argued that the pandemic is not over, and continues to pose a risk to all Americans, including young children, and thus, vaccination and boosting remains critical in protecting all age groups.
“As a mother, an infectious disease specialist and a member of [the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices], my children are older than this age cohort, however, if they were still in this age cohort, I would give my children this booster,” said Dr. Camille Kotton, clinical director in the Infectious Diseases Division at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Vaccination has provided “measurable, detectable” benefits in preventing “a wide range of health outcomes, and that includes infection, emergency department visits, hospitalization and critical illness” in adults, Dr. Matthew Daley, a senior investigator at Institute for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Colorado, said, asserting that the same is likely true in young children.
“It just wouldn’t make sense that 5- to 11-year-olds are the only group among the age eligible for whom a third dose isn’t necessary to achieve a more durable and effective immune response,” Daley said.
Panelists added that future boosting plans for children this fall are still unclear, and thus, providing families access to boosters now is a time-sensitive, and important, decision.
Ultimately, the goal of the vaccines is to prevent severe illness and death, asserted Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot, associate professor of medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Health Policy at Vanderbilt University, adding that the benefits of vaccinating children, to protect them against severe forms of COVID-19, are clear
“The goal is not to prevent all infections but to prevent severe illness and the data that was shown was quite good convincing that a third dose would decrease hospitalization, it would decrease MIS-C, it decreases post COVID. All of these are serious complications that children are having. And that’s why I really do believe we should be going in this direction,” Keipp Talbot said.
Some panelists expressed concern over the need for boosters in children ages 5 to 11 years old right now, given the fact that a large proportion of children have been recently infected with COVID-19 during the omicron surge.
Dr. Sarah S. Long, professor of pediatrics, Drexel University College of Medicine, asserted that with infection rates on the rise “now is not the time” to be boosting younger children.
“I think this is not the time to be giving boosts to 75% of children — I think the most of whom have had recent infections,” Long argued.
Other experts stressed that physicians and officials should still be focusing on vaccinating more children with their initial primary series, particularly given the nation’s recent increases in pediatric COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
To date, just 43% of eligible children, ages 5 to 17 years old, have been fully vaccinated, according to federal data. An even smaller portion — less than 30% — of children ages 5 to 11 years old have been fully vaccinated, and would thus, be eligible for a booster shot.
In January, the FDA authorized the use of a booster dose in adolescents ages 12 through 15, with 3.7 million adolescents receiving a booster dose since then, according to the CDC.
Overall, 25.7 million children over the age of 5 — about half those eligible — remain completely unvaccinated, including 18.2 million children ages 5 to 11.
“Boosters are great once they’ve got everyone their first round and I think that needs to be a priority in this,” Keipp Talbot said.
Last week, more than 93,000 additional child COVID-19 cases were reported, an increase of about 76% from two weeks ago, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
The average number of pediatric hospital admission rates have increased by 70% in the last month, according to CDC data, and on average, nearly 180 virus-positive children are entering hospitals each day.
