Biden names coordinator for monkeypox response

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday named a coordinator of the federal government's response to the monkeypox virus as two more states declared health emergencies.

Robert Fenton, a regional Federal Emergency Management Agency  (FEMA) administrator who helped lead the country's mass vaccination effort for COVID-19  will lead the effort.

Dr Demetre Daskalakis, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) director of HIV/AIDS prevention, will serve as the deputy coordinator.

The two are expected to coordinate and manage response efforts across the White House and all federal departments and agencies, as well as work with local, state, national and international health experts on tracking and fighting the spread of monkeypox. 

Confirmed cases of monkeypox have now surpassed 23,600 worldwide, the CDC said Monday, and the US had reported more than 5,800 confirmed cases as of Monday, with 1,390 cases in New York, followed by 827 in California and 530 in Illinois. Chicago reported a total of 330 cases as of July 28.

The outbreak, first found in Europe in late April, has reached 80 countries — the vast majority in nations that hadn't previously had significant caseloads of the rare, viral infection.

On July 23, the World Health Organization said monkeypox was a global health emergency.

California and Illinois on Monday declared health emergencies in their states. The governors' proclamation will accelerate the administration of vaccines, the work of contact tracing and prevention efforts, officials said. Last week, New York state, New York City and San Francisco declared of states of emergency.

The first monkeypox case in the US was conformed in May and the virus has spread rapidly since then. Nearly all of the cases are in men who have sex with men. 

So far, monkeypox hasn't been declared a federal public health emergency in the US, with American health officials having said the US is still assessing the situation.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that there is currently only enough supply of the two-dose Jynneos monkeypox vaccine to fully vaccinate about a third of the gay and bisexual men in the US.

"Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus is part of the same family of viruses as variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox," the CDC notes on its website.

Monkeypox symptoms are milder than smallpox symptoms, and monkeypox is rarely fatal. Symptoms include headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, fever, backache, the swelling of lymph nodes, and chills.

Within one to three days, a rash and lesions can also develop, according to the CDC.

The virus is not related to chickenpox, says the CDC. Monkeypox was discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a poxlike disease showed up in monkeys kept for research.