It is here. The deadly new strain of Monkeypox that has been causing so much havoc in central Africa has now reached our shores. Of course most people will not be too alarmed when they hear this because they will think that this version of Monkeypox must be similar to the version that has been circulating in the U.S. since 2022. That version primarily spreads through sexual contact, and it has an extremely low death rate. This new version spreads in multiple ways, and it has a much higher death rate. Scientists have been watching this new strain spread in central Africa for some time, and now it is starting to pop up all over the globe.
The case that has just been confirmed in northern California is the very first case of this new strain in the United States. Apparently this particular individual had just returned home from a trip to eastern Africa…
A person in California has tested positive for a form of mpox causing a widespread epidemic in Africa, the state’s Department of Public Health reported on Saturday. It is the first known case in the United States.
The individual, who was not identified, had recently returned from East Africa. The patient was diagnosed in San Mateo County, just south of San Francisco, and was isolating at home.
This is starting to become a recurring pattern.
All over the world, cases have been popping up that involve people that had recently traveled to Africa…
Infections in people returning from Africa, however, have been found in Germany, Sweden, Thailand and the United Kingdom, among other countries. A case in India was reported in a person returning from the United Arab Emirates.
In Germany, Sweden, Thailand and India, the virus was transmitted no farther. In the United Kingdom, the infected individual passed mpox to three household contacts.
The good news is that these outbreaks were caught in time.
The bad news is that this new strain is raging out of control in Africa. It is being reported that there have been over 57,000 cases since January, and more than 1,000 victims have died…
There have been more than 57,000 confirmed or suspected cases since January and nearly 1,200 deaths, many of them children. The World Health Organization declared the epidemic a global emergency in August.
Scientists that are studying the disease say that this particular strain of Monkeypox continues to mutate.
And apparently there is new evidence of “sustained human-to-human spread”. The following comes from an article posted on nature.com entitled “Monkeypox virus keeps getting better at spreading among humans”…
Health officials have been using genomic-sequencing tools to track the outbreak. As part of the effort, Mbala and his colleagues sequenced virus samples from infections in Kinshasa. In samples of both the clade Ia and Ib virus, they found a specific pattern of single-letter genetic mutations indicative of the ongoing battle between the human immune system and the virus — a pattern that would be unlikely to appear unless there was sustained human-to-human spread.
If this strain of the virus ultimately mutates into a form that can spread like wildfire among the human population, we will see widespread panic.
We all remember the fear that was caused by a global pandemic that had an extremely low death rate.
So what would happen if millions of people all over the world started catching a disease with a much higher death rate?
According to the WHO, there are numerous ways that this new strain is spreading…
- Sexual contact
- Bodily fluids
- Lesions on the skin or area like the mouth or throat
- Respiratory particles
- Contaminated objects
A lot of people think that the horrifying sores that develop on the skin are the worst part of having Monkeypox.
But that is not true at all.
The worst part is the pain.
One man that got infected by the strain of Monkeypox that has been circulating in the U.S. since 2022 says that it was the worst pain that he has ever experienced in his entire life…
I waited two days for the result, during which I developed the other symptoms of monkeypox: fever, body aches, chills, and sweats. A few days later, on July 14, I got the positive results from the monkeypox test. And then, boom, right after that, I had a second burst of lesions—like stars in the sky—all over my body.
For the next few days, I was in excruciating pain—the worst pain of my life. I’ve been in a car wreck. I’ve had sinus surgery four times. I’ve had wisdom teeth out. I’ve had COVID-19 and mono. I’ve broken my hand, and the pain was nothing like this. Doctors put me on gabapentin [a medication used to treat pain from shingles], and I was also on ibuprofen and acetaminophen, but nothing even dented the pain.
You do not want to get this disease.
If a significant outbreak of this new strain does erupt in the U.S., the CDC says that it is prepared to act…
The U.S. is also more prepared for an outbreak than it was in 2022. The CDC has instructed doctors to test for mpox and is scanning for both clades at wastewater sites across the country, including some airports.
Additionally, the country has an adequate supply of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine, which is available to men who have sex with men and other high-risk groups. The Department of Health and Human Service says two doses of the vaccine or a previous infection should protect against severe illness from clade I.
We have all seen this story before.
Hopefully this new strain of Monkeypox will not become a major problem in this country.
But now that it has popped up on the west coast, we will want to keep a very close eye on it.
And we will also want to keep a very close eye on H5N1, because confirmed human cases are starting to be reported all over the nation. In fact, five more confirmed cases were just reported in California and one confirmed case was just reported in Oregon.
We have entered a period of history when great pestilences will absolutely ravage our planet, and I know that a lot of people don’t like to hear that.
But sticking our heads in the sand is not going to stop what is coming.
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