WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The polio virus was present in wastewater in a New York City suburb a month before health officials there announced a confirmed case of the disease last month, state health officials said on Monday, urging residents to be sure they have been vaccinated.
The discovery of the disease from wastewater samples collected in June means the virus was present in the community before the Rockland County adult’s diagnosis was made public July 21. read more
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an emailed statement that the presence of the virus in wastewater indicates there may be more people in the community shedding the virus in their stool.
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However, the CDC added there have been no new cases identified, and that it is not yet clear whether the virus is actively spreading in New York or elsewhere in the United States.
Laboratory tests also confirmed the strain in the case is genetically linked to one found in Israel, although that did not mean the patient had traveled to Israel, officials added. The CDC said genetic sequencing also tied it to samples of the highly contagious and life-threatening virus in the United Kingdom.
The patient had started exhibiting symptoms in June, when local officials asked doctors to be on the lookout for cases, according to the New York Times.
“Given how quickly polio can spread, now is the time for every adult, parent, and guardian to get themselves and their children vaccinated as soon as possible,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said.
There is no cure for polio, which can cause irreversible paralysis in some cases, but it can be prevented by a vaccine made available in 1955.
New York officials have said they are opening vaccine clinics to help unvaccinated residents get their shots. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine that has been given in the United States since 2000, according to the CDC. It is given by shot in the leg or arm, depending on the patient’s age.
Polio is often asymptomatic and people can transmit the virus even when they do not appear sick. But it can produce mild, flu-like symptoms that can take as long as 30 days to appear, officials said.
It can strike at any age but the majority of those affected are children aged three and younger.
Representatives for the New York health department could not be immediately reached for more details on the wastewater findings.
The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk in the 1950s was heralded as a scientific achievement to tackle the global scourge, now largely eradicated nationwide. The United States has not seen a polio case generated in the country since 1979, although cases from a traveler and an oral vaccine were found in 1993 and 2013.
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Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Aurora Ellis
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July 23 (Reuters) – The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak represents a global health emergency, the World Health Organization’s highest level of alert, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday.
The WHO label – a “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)” – is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments.
Members of an expert committee that met on Thursday to discuss the potential recommendation were split on the decision, with nine members against and six in favour of the declaration, prompting Tedros himself to break the deadlock, he told reporters.
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“Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for the moment this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Tedros told a media briefing in Geneva. read more
“Stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus,” he added.
He said the risk of monkeypox – which spreads via close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions – was moderate globally, except in the Europe, where the WHO has deemed the risk as high. read more
Previously, Tedros has typically endorsed expert committee recommendations, but the two sources told Reuters earlier on Saturday said he had likely decided to back the highest alert level due to concerns about escalating case rates and a short supply of vaccines and treatments.
So far this year, there have been more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries, and five deaths in Africa.
The viral disease has been spreading chiefly in men who have sex with men in the recent outbreak, outside Africa where it is endemic.
Health experts welcomed the WHO’s decision to issue the PHEIC declaration, which until now had only been applied to the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing efforts to eradicate polio.
Test tubes labeled “Monkeypox virus positive and negative” are seen in this illustration taken May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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“The right result is clear – not declaring an emergency at this point would be a historic missed opportunity,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C., calling the decision politically brave.
The decision should help contain the spread of the viral disease, said Josie Golding, head of epidemics and epidemiology at the Wellcome Trust.
“We cannot afford to keep waiting for diseases to escalate before we intervene,” she said.
JUNE MEETING
The WHO and national governments have been facing intense pressure from scientists and public health experts to take more action on monkeypox.
Cases of the viral disease have ballooned since the committee first met at the end of June, when there were only about 3,000 cases.
At the time, the expert group agreed to reconsider their position on the emergency declaration if the outbreak escalated.
One of the key issues driving a reassessment was whether cases would spread to other groups, particularly children or others who have been vulnerable to the virus in past outbreaks in endemic countries.
On Friday, the United States identified its first two monkeypox cases in children. read more
WHO officials said on Saturday they were exploring the possibility of the virus spreading via new modes of transmission.
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Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover in London and John Revill in Zurich
Editing by Helen Popper
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LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) – European nations must accelerate vaccine uptake and bring back mask wearing to tackle a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by an Omicron offshoot and avoid stricter measures later in the year, a senior World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.
In an interview with Reuters, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge urged countries to take action now to avoid overwhelming health systems in the autumn and winter as the Omicron subvariant, BA.5, continues to spread rapidly.
Close to three million new COVID-19 cases were reported in Europe last week, which accounted for nearly half of all new cases globally. Hospitalisation rates have doubled over the same period, and close to 3,000 people die of the disease every week, Kluge said in an accompanying statement.
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“There is a rise in cases … amidst a society which is functioning almost as before,” he said, stressing the need for “pandemic stabilisers” such as a second booster dose ahead of the expected variant-specific vaccines in the autumn, as well as the promotion of mask wearing and better ventilation.
WHO European director Hans Kluge gives status on the Danish handling of coronavirus during a press breefing in Eigtveds Pakhus, Copenhagen, Denmark March 27, 2020. Ida Guldbaek Arentsen/ Ritzau Scanpix/via REUTERS/File Photo
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These stabilisers must be implemented to avoid much stricter measures, he said, adding: “I don’t think society is ready for ordered lockdowns.”
When the pandemic began in 2020, governments boosted spending to help cushion the impact of lockdowns on their economies and struggling health systems but piled up large debts and are reluctant to repeat those policies.
“People sometimes ask, is the virus back?,” said Kluge. “It has never gone away. It’s still there. It’s spreading. It is mutating. And unfortunately, it’s still taking a lot of lives.”
After two and a half years of the pandemic and related lockdowns and disruptions, countries are now also having to deal with surging inflation and increased food insecurity caused partly by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but governments still need to invest further in healthcare, Kluge said.
“And if governments won’t do it, well, then society will not be better prepared for the future,” he added.
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Reporting by Natalie Grover in London; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Gareth Jones
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July 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of Novavax Inc’s (NVAX.O) COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, clearing the way for a shot whose more traditional technology has raised hopes of wider acceptance among vaccine skeptics.
Shares of Novavax rose 1.3% to $70.89 after its two-dose vaccine became the fourth COVID shot to be authorized for use in adults in the United States.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still needs to sign off on the use of the vaccine before it can be made available to people.
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A panel of CDC advisers on vaccines is expected to meet on Tuesday, but the agenda has not been released yet.
Earlier this week, the U.S. government said it had secured 3.2 million Novavax vaccine doses, which it plans to release once the company finishes quality testing in the next few weeks.
More than two-thirds of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated with shots from Moderna Inc (MRNA.O), Pfizer-BioNTech , or Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N).
U.S. health officials hope that people who have opted not to take Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccine, which are based on the groundbreaking messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, will instead opt for Novavax’s protein-based shot.
The vaccine, already approved in Europe, is based on a technology that has been used for decades to combat diseases including hepatitis B and influenza.
“Today’s authorization offers adults in the United States who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine another option that meets the FDA’s rigorous standards,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement.
In Europe, however, demand for the shot has not been significantly high, with about 242,000 doses of the vaccine administered since its launch in December, prompting Novavax to increase its focus on lower-income countries.
The company’s initial application for U.S. authorization of the shot was delayed by almost a year on development and production problems, making it a late entrant in the country’s market for COVID vaccines.
Novavax has projected between $4 billion and $5 billion in sales this year. Analysts expect sales at the lower end of that range, according to Refinitiv.
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Reporting by Manas Mishra and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru;
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Devika Syamnath
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LONDON/KISUMU, Kenya, July 13 (Reuters) – After decades of work, the World Health Organization endorsed the first-ever malaria vaccine last year – a historic milestone that promised to drive back a disease that kills a child every minute.
In reality, efforts are falling well short of that, with a lack of funding and commercial potential thwarting GSK Plc’s capacity to produce as many doses of its shot as needed, according to Reuters interviews with about a dozen WHO officials, GSK staff, scientists and non-profit groups.
The British drugmaker committed to produce up to 15 million doses every year through 2028, following 2019 pilot programs – considerably less than the WHO says is needed. It is currently unlikely to make more than a few million annually before 2026, according to a source close to the vaccine rollout.
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A GSK spokesperson told Reuters that it could not make enough of its vaccine Mosquirix to meet the vast demand without more funds from international donors, without giving details on the numbers of doses it expected to produce annually in the first years of the roll-out.
“Demand over the next five to 10 years will probably outstrip the current forecasts on supply,” said Thomas Breuer, GSK’s chief global health officer.
The vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing severe cases of malaria in children is relatively low, at around 30% in a large-scale clinical trial. Some officials and donors are hoping that a second shot being tested by Oxford University may prove better, cheaper and easier to produce in bulk.
Yet the world’s inability to fund more Mosquirix shots dismays many in Africa. Children on the continent account for the vast majority of the roughly 600,000 global malaria deaths every year.
“Mosquirix has the potential to save a lot of precious lives before another new vaccine arrives,” said Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, a public health specialist leading a pilot vaccination program in Ghana. “The more we wait, the more children die needlessly.”
Rebecca Adhiambo Kwanya in the Kenyan city of Kisumu needs no convincing: her four-year-old child Betrun has suffered numerous malaria bouts since birth, yet her 18-month-old Bradley – vaccinated in the pilot program – hasn’t caught it.
“My elder one was not vaccinated and he was sick on and off,” she said. “But the smaller one, he got the vaccine and he was not even sick.”
The limited international appetite to produce and distribute more Mosquirix stands in stark contrast to the record speed and funds with which wealthy countries secured vaccines for COVID-19, a disease that poses relatively little risk to children.
Unlike many pharmaceutical products, there is no major market for a malaria vaccine in the developed world, where drug companies typically make the large profits that they say allows them to make their products available at far lower prices in poorer countries.
“This is a disease of the poor, so it’s not been that appealing in terms of the market,” said Corine Karema, chief executive of the nonprofit RBM Partnership to End Malaria, which is working with governments in Africa to eliminate the disease.
“But one kid dies of malaria every minute – that’s unacceptable.”
EXTRA DATA, ADDED YEARS
In the coming weeks, global health organizations will announce the next steps to make Mosquirix widely available, including the first procurement deal and the WHO’s recommended allocation to prioritize roughly 10 million children at highest risk, the source familiar with the rollout plans said.
Long-term, WHO officials say roughly 100 million doses a year of the four-dose vaccine will be needed, which would cover around 25 million children. When the U.N. agency backed Mosquirix last October, it said that even a smaller supply could save 40,000 to 80,000 lives each year, without specifying the number of doses required. read more
GSK’s maximum target of 15 million doses could prevent up to about 20,000 deaths each year, according to a Reuters review of the malaria vaccine models used by WHO.
Yet even hitting 15 million could take years, according to several officials at the WHO and elsewhere in the malaria effort who said wider distribution beyond the pilot countries was unlikely before early 2024, and even then it would start slowly.
GSK also has to upgrade its manufacturing capacity to reach its target. It said it had set up a funding deal with international vaccine alliance Gavi to help stockpile a key ingredient of the shot to ensure there was no gap in supply during that process.
“We are on course to complete the agreed stockpiling volume,” said a spokesperson.
The drugmaker has invested 700 million pounds ($840 million)in the vaccine’s development and says it won’t charge more than 5% above the cost to produce it.
“No company wants to be in a situation where you build manufacturing which oversupplies the market and vaccines will not be used,” said Breuer said, referring to a future split in demand between Mosquirix and the Oxford vaccine, if approved.
After 2028, India’s Bharat Biotech will take over production of Mosquirix’s key ingredient.
GSK’s Breuer expects the deal with Bharat to accelerate production. The British drugmaker will continue to produce the adjuvant – immune-boosting portion – of the vaccine, and recently committed to doubling production to 30 million doses annually, without offering a timeline.
Bharat Biotech, which has yet to outline its manufacturing plans, did not respond to requests for comment.
A nurse administers the malaria vaccine to an infant at the Lumumba Sub-County hospital in Kisumu, Kenya, July 1, 2022. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
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LOSING SOMEONE TO MALARIA
GSK has donated 10 million doses to pilot programs in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, and less than half have been shipped so far. The countries plan to expand campaigns this year and next using a mix of the remaining donations and purchased shots.
GSK said a WHO decision to collect additional data on safety and effectiveness from the pilot programs had added years to the launch process, during which it had to idle a dedicated production facility.
The WHO said safety questions had to be addressed before approval, and that it was working urgently to boost supply.
Mary Hamel, the agency’s malaria vaccine implementation head, told Reuters that COVID vaccines had shown how quickly things could move with the political will and funding – which she said malaria had never had.
Mosquirix has been in development since the 1980s, in part because of the complexity of targeting the malaria parasite.
Its regulatory pathway has also been slow. In 2015, GSK published results from a large-scale clinical trial showing vaccine reduced the risk of severe malaria by about 30%. The WHO sought more data on the shot’s safety and effectiveness, gathering information from 2019 during the pilot vaccination programs, before endorsing Mosquirix.
In the past, such real-world data on a vaccine has often been tracked after it has been authorized for use.
“Would we have done it in the West? I don’t know,” said WHO’s Hamel, who was not involved in the decision, referring to holding up the deployment of shots to collect extra data.
BIG DONOR: NO SILVER BULLET
Now recommended for use, it is not clear how the shot’s distribution will be financed long-term. Funding for malaria totaled $3.3 billion in 2020, less than half of the estimated need, the WHO said, for tools such as treatments, bed nets and insecticides.
Adding malaria vaccines could cost between $325 million and more than $600 million annually, depending on how widely they are used, according to a study by global health researchers published in the Lancet journal in 2019. The WHO estimates that the GSK vaccine will cost around $5 per dose.
Two of the biggest funders behind the development and pilot programs for Mosquirix, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, told Reuters they were committing almost no additional financing to deploy the vaccine.
“It’s not a silver bullet, and it’s relatively expensive compared to other interventions used for malaria,” said Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund. “The fundamental issue with malaria isn’t actually about tools. It’s about the fact that we spend far too little money on it.”
The Gates Foundation said it would continue to back research into how to best use the “historic” vaccine, but “concerns about the relatively low efficacy, short duration, and constrained supply challenges” meant it would not fund deployment.
Gavi is currently the only significant source of funding for a wider Mosquirix rollout. It has approved about $155 million for 2022 through 2025, alongside some funding from the countries themselves. Internal documents seen by Reuters suggest Gavi’s investment in the first year is only expected to be $20 million.
A source familiar with the plans said the group hoped that getting the vaccine rolled out, and countries showing demand, would make the case for more investment.
OXFORD SHOT IN THE WORKS
Several global health officials said future funding from donors might be better committed to a new shot from the scientists at Oxford University who developed AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine.
Data from small trials showed 77% efficacy over a 12-month period, if given to babies shortly before the peak malaria season. Results from a much larger clinical trial are expected in the coming weeks. Some researchers suggest the GSK vaccine, too, may show higher effectiveness if given seasonally.
Oxford scientist Adrian Hill told Reuters his team aims to secure a WHO recommendation for their malaria shot within a year of submitting data to the agency.
The Serum Institute of India, which will manufacture the vaccine, told Reuters it expects to be able to make up to 200 million doses annually by the end of 2024.
In the years ahead, there are also hopes for a shot being developed by BioNTech (22UAy.DE), using the same mRNA technology as their successful COVID vaccine made with Pfizer . BioNTech aims to begin human trials by the end of 2022.
But in the years before either of those shots might be used, there will not be enough vaccines even for those 10 million children the WHO says are most at risk.
“We should have had this vaccine a long time ago,” said Alassane Dicko, professor of public health at the University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako in Mali, who has led some of the Mosquirix trials.
“We have to do more.”
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Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover in London, and Maggie Fick in Nairobi; Additional reporting by Baz Ratner in Kisumu, Kenya; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Pravin Char
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LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) – The World Health Organisation is looking into reports that the monkeypox virus is present in the semen of patients, exploring the possibility that the disease could be sexually transmitted, a WHO official said on Wednesday.
Many cases in the current monkeypox outbreak, largely centred on Europe, are among sexual partners who have had close contact, and the agency reiterated that virus is mainly transmitted via close interpersonal contact.
In recent days, scientists say they have detected viral DNA in the semen of a handful of monkeypox patients in Italy and Germany, including a lab-tested sample that suggested the virus found in the semen of a single patient was capable of infecting another person and replicating. read more
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Catherine Smallwood, monkeypox incident manager at WHO/Europe, said it was not known whether recent reports meant the monkeypox virus could be sexually transmitted.
“This may have been something that we were unaware of in this disease before,” she told a press briefing.
Two samples of suspected cases of monkeypox go through a process of nucleic acid extraction as they get tested at a microbiology lab at La Paz Hospital in Madrid, Spain, June 1, 2022. REUTERS/Susana Vera
“We really need to focus on the most frequent mode of transmission and we clearly see that to be associated with skin to skin contact.”
More than 1,300 cases of the viral disease have been reported by about 30 countries since early May. Most cases have been reported in men who have sex with men.
The outbreak has triggered concern since the virus is rarely seen outside of Africa, where it is endemic, and the majority of the European cases are not related to travel to the continent.
As the outbreak spreads, the WHO has recommended targeted vaccination of close contacts, including healthcare workers, but has warned it is already seeing a rush to stockpile vaccines.
“Once again, a ‘me first’ approach could lead to damaging consequences down the road,” said Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe.
“I beseech governments to tackle monkeypox without repeating the mistakes of the pandemic – and keeping equity at the heart of all we do.”
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Reporting by Natalie Grover and Jennifer Rigby in London; Editing by Angus MacSwan and John Stonestreet
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A pharmacist holds a vial of the Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in West Haven, Connecticut, U.S., February 17, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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June 14 (Reuters) – Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday unanimously recommended that the agency authorize Moderna Inc’s (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine for children and teens aged 6 to 17 years of age.
Around 77 million people in the United States have received at least a two-dose course of Moderna’s vaccine, which has long been available for people aged 18 and older.
The committee of outside experts is scheduled on Wednesday to consider the Moderna shot for children under 6, and Pfizer (PFE.N) and BioNTech’s (22UAy.DE) COVID vaccine for children under 5 – and in both cases as young as 6 months.
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There is unlikely to be significant immediate demand the Moderna shots for 6- to 17-year olds. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was authorized for children aged 5 to 11 in October, and approval for teenagers preceded that by months.
Yet only around 30% of those ages 5 to 11 and 60% of 12- to 17-year olds are fully vaccinated in the United States, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“I’d like to give parents as many choices as possible, and let them make the decisions about this for their children,” committee member and UC Berkeley professor Dr. Arthur Reingold said at the meeting.
The FDA – which generally follows the recommendations of its advisers but is not obligated to do so – is likely to authorize the Moderna vaccine for ages 6-17 soon. The CDC also needs to recommend the vaccine’s use. A committee of its advisers is scheduled to meet Friday and Saturday.
There have long been concerns that the Moderna vaccine, which is given at a higher dose than the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, may cause types of heart inflammation known as myocarditis and pericarditis at higher rates, primarily in younger males.
Some countries in Europe have limited use of Moderna’s vaccine for younger age groups after surveillance suggested it was tied to a higher risk of heart inflammation, and the FDA delayed its review of the shot to assess the myocarditis risk.
U.S. regulators presented data at the meeting on Tuesday suggesting that Moderna’s vaccine may have a higher risk of heart inflammation in young men, but said the findings were not consistent across various safety databases and were not statistically significant, meaning they might be due to chance.
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Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Jason Neely and Bill Berkrot
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Test tube labelled “Monkeypox virus positive” are seen in this illustration taken May 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) – Monkeypox appears to be spreading from person to person in England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Wednesday.
The usually mild viral disease, which is endemic in west and central Africa, is understood to spread through close contact. Until early May, cases rarely cropped up outside Africa and were typically linked to travel to there.
“The current outbreak is the first time that the virus has been passed from person to person in England where travel links to an endemic country have not been identified,” the agency said.
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According to the UKHSA, the majority of cases in the United Kingdom – 132 – are in London, while 111 cases are known to be in gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). Only two cases are in women.
Recent foreign travel to a number of different countries in Europe within 21 days of symptom onset has been reported by 34 confirmed cases, or about 18% of the 190 cases of the disease that have been confirmed by the United Kingdom as of May 31.
So far, the UKHSA has identified links to gay bars, saunas and the use of dating apps in Britain and abroad.
“Investigations continue but currently no single factor or exposure that links the cases has been identified,” the agency cautioned.
Monkeypox can affect anyone, but many of the most recent diagnoses are the GBMSM community – many of whom live in, or have links to London, said Kevin Fenton, London’s regional director for public health.
“As with any new disease outbreak, the risk of stigma and uncertainty is great,” he said.
The UKHSA is working with groups including the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV and the dating App Grindr to communicate with sexual health services and the GBMSM community. It is also encouraging the LGBT Consortium and Pride event organisers to help with messaging in the coming weeks.
Monkeypox typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions that usually resolve on their own within weeks, but can kill a small fraction of those infected.
UK health authorities are offering Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine, Imvanex, to contacts of confirmed or suspected cases.
Cases of monkeypox continue to rise outside Africa, mostly in Europe, and scientists are trying to pin down the reasons behind the spread.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said it had so far received reports of more than 550 confirmed cases of the viral disease from 30 countries outside of Africa.
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Reporting by Natalie Grover in London; Twitter @NatalieGrover
Editing by Mark Potter and David Gregorio
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A health worker wearing Ebola protection gear, leaves the dressing room before entering the Biosecure Emergency Care Unit (CUBE) at the ALIMA (The Alliance for International Medical Action).
REUTERS/Baz Ratner
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Oct 8 (Reuters) – A case of Ebola has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the health minister said on Friday, five months after the end of the most recent outbreak there.
It was not immediately known if the case was related to the 2018-2020 outbreak that killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Congo, the second deadliest on record, or the flare-up that killed six this year.
A 3-year-old boy tested positive near the eastern city of Beni, one of the epicentres of the 2018-2020 outbreak, and died from the disease on Wednesday, Health Minister Jean Jacques Mbungani said in a statement.
About 100 people who may have been exposed to the virus have been identified and will be monitored to see if they develop any symptoms, he added.
An internal report from Congo’s biomedical laboratory said that three of the toddler’s neighbours in Beni’s densely-populated Butsili neighbourhood also presented symptoms consistent with Ebola last month and died, but none were tested.
Congo has recorded 12 outbreaks since the disease, which causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea, and is spread through contact with body fluids, was discovered in the equatorial forest near the Ebola River in 1976.
“Thanks to the experience acquired in managing the Ebola virus disease during previous epidemics, we are confident that the response teams … will manage to control this outbreak as soon as possible,” Mbungani said.
It is not unusual for sporadic cases to occur following a major outbreak, health experts say. Particles of the virus can remain present in semen for months after recovery from an infection.
The disease typically kills about half of those it infects although treatments developed since the record 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa have significantly reduced death rates when cases are detected early.
Two highly effective vaccines manufactured by Merck (MRK.N) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) have also been used to contain outbreaks since then.
The 2018-2020 outbreak, however, became as deadly as it did because the response was hampered by mistrust of medical workers by the local population as well as violence by some of the armed militia groups active in eastern Congo.
(This story corrects total number of outbreaks to 12 from 11 in paragraph 6)
Reporting by Fiston Mahamba; Additional reporting by Aaron Ross and Stanis Bujakera; Editing by Leslie Adler, John Stonestreet and Sandra Maler
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Oct 6 (Reuters) – When her two-year-old started feeling sick early last week, Tiffany Jackson didn’t think it might be COVID-19.
No one else in the family was sick. Adrian James just had a bit of a cough. She gave him cough syrup and put a humidifier in his room.
But by Friday he was sweaty and his breathing was labored. Jackson took him to an emergency room in her small town of Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Doctors and nurses there did a chest X-ray and swabbed him for COVID – and then airlifted the child to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, about 80 miles away.
Jackson followed in a car, her grandmother at the wheel. They made the usually 90 minute-drive in about an hour.
“I didn’t know if he was going to make it or not,” Jackson said. “I was very emotional and just very upset.”
Her boy is one of nearly 840,000 children under the age of four to contract COVID-19 in the United States, according to statistics from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Vaccinations against COVID-19 have not been approved for young children, and the United States is being ravaged by a surge of cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, which Adrian has.
By late Tuesday night, he was intubated and heavily sedated, wrapped in his baby blanket with his favorite Paw Patrol stuffed animal at hand.
Over the past couple of days, his lungs have been able to do more of the work of breathing, and it is possible that he may be removed from the ventilator soon.
The United States crossed the milestone of 700,000 COVID deaths last week, and concern is growing over the number of infections among children.
Transmission of the virus remains high in every U.S. state except California, CDC data show.
‘IT IS SERIOUS’
Adrian, who will be three years old next month, had developed pneumonia in his left lung. He was breathing fast, trying to gulp air with 76 respirations per minute, nearly twice the normal 40, Jackson said.
At the hospital, doctors and nurses wearing masks, face shields and protective gowns sedated him and put him on a breathing tube attached to a ventilator in the intensive care unit.
Jackson has been sleeping on a couch in his room in the ICU.
Jackson doesn’t know how her boy contracted the virus. She had COVID last summer; no one else in the family caught it at that time.
Jackson is not vaccinated against COVID-19 because she has a rare auto-immune disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome contracted as a result of a flu shot when she was 16. The syndrome, which is incurable, causes nervous system damage.
Adrian’s father, who is home with their younger child in Illinois, received one dose of a COVID vaccine but not the second dose, she said. Maybe, she thinks, someone at work passed it to him, although everyone in the factory where he is employed is supposed to wear masks and practice physical distancing.
Jackson, 21, is profoundly grateful for the care her child has received. She is beginning to believe that it will save his life.
And she hopes that Adrian’s story will help people understand what it could mean to the pass the virus to young children and to people with vulnerable immune systems.
“I just want people to realize it is serious,” she said.
Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California. Additional reporting by Callaghan O’Hare in St. Louis. Editing by Donna Bryson, Robert Birsel
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