U.S. Monkeypox Cases Surpass 10,000 as CDC still aims for Containment

According to data released late Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 10,000 Americans have already tested positive in the Monkeypox outbreak throughout the country. Federal health officials claim they are still battling to contain the virus. Every state save Wyoming has recorded instances, and 15 states and the District of Columbia have reported more than 100 cases. The biggest populations are found in Florida, California, and New York. Out of the 12 Monkeypox deaths the World Health Organization has recorded so far this year, none have been associated with the United States.

Health experts claim that intimate contact between males who have intercourse with other men, whether via direct skin-to-skin contact or the sharing of linens like towels and beds, is the main way the virus spreads. The CDC has recorded at least 50 cases of the condition in persons who were female at birth, including at least one pregnant person.

There have also been a few cases of suspected infections in young children, however health officials have lately suggested that some of these cases may have been false positives. Federal health authorities had warned for weeks that they expected the U.S. outbreak to intensify through August, mainly as testing became more widely available, in line with several other European nations that saw the number of cases rise earlier in the year.

Since late July, the United States has recorded the most illnesses of any nation worldwide. In terms of the total number of cases, the United States has now reported more than twice as many as Spain, the European country that had previously recorded the most instances before Germany and the United Kingdom. In several foreign nations, the rate of new cases presently seems to be slowing down. The CDC’s total is still lower than in other European countries when compared to population size, but the increasing U.S. outbreak now seems on track to surpass those rates as well.