There are already up to 300 cases of monkeypox in the U.S. – nine times as many official cases of 31 as expert claims –

There may already be 300 cases of monkeypox in the United States – more than nine times the official number of 31 – but skipped hundreds due to a lack of testing, one expert said on Monday.

Dr. The US probably has the same number of infections as the UK, which is now the world’s hotspot for monkeypox, said Boghuma Titanji, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University in Georgia.

But he said the process of rigorously checking Pap smears, which had to be sent to one of 74 local labs and then to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for approval, resulted in very little being done and much more lost. .

Other experts say infections may go undetected as cases can be mild and resolve on their own, preventing patients from being misdiagnosed or manifesting as a sexually transmitted disease such as syphilis.

American cases of monkeypox involve mainly gay and bisexual men and are linked to international travel, primarily to Europe, where around 900 of the 1,000 global cases were recorded in 21 countries.

But at least one patient in the United States has not recently traveled or had contact with another known case, suggesting that the virus was spreading undetected in the United States. CDC officials did not disclose the whereabouts of the patient, although it is likely to be Florida or Pennsylvania.

This week, a head of the World Health Organization warned that the virus, which originated in West Africa, may have spread around the world for years before it was discovered after cases rose due to unexplained sex. It was preserved in Europe in two accolades.

Warning that there could be hundreds of tropical disease cases in the country, Titanji STAT News said, “There are probably as many cases in the US as in Canada or the UK.

Dr. The US could have as many cases as the UK, said Boghuma Titanji of Emory University.

“We just don’t do enough testing to be sure there are only 25 cases. I think we need to test a lot more than we do now.

Titanji spoke to the broadcast before updating the tally to 31 cases in 12 states and Washington DC.

The UK has detected 302 cases – the highest number in the world – the fourth highest in the world with Canada 95, even after Spain (230) and Portugal (153).

Many monkeypox infections in the current outbreak start with a rash on the genital area, the CDC revealed at a briefing last week.

This is different from the past course of infection in which patients developed a fever within the first 21 days of infection, followed by a facial rash that then spread to the rest of the body.

Dr. Joseph Osmundson, a molecular microbiologist at New York University, fears this could lead to cases being misdiagnosed as a common disease.

He also warned that because many infections are usually mild and go away on their own, patients may not come for medical treatment and are therefore unavailable.

Last week, the CDC announced that it had tracked more than 400 “contacts” of patients who tested positive for monkeypox. Of these, about 55 are considered “high risk,” meaning there is a reasonable probability that they will contract the disease.

But despite the high numbers, it has so far performed about 120 PCR swabs for orthopoxvirus, the family of viruses that includes monkeypox and smallpox.

CDC leaders say they have the ability to run more than 74,000 tests a day for the virus and have asked state health departments to send in swabs.

But many experts say the testing process is too complex and instead want monkeypox tests sent directly to the states.

In the ongoing process, a swab from a suspected patient is sent to one of 74 laboratories for orthopox virus control.

If the test is positive, it is handed over to the CDC, who can confirm whether the case is monkeypox.

Any case of orthopox virus is very likely to test positive for monkeypox. Smallpox, the other major virus in this family, has been eradicated for decades.

America now has one of the smallest outbreaks of monkeypox in the world, with 31 reported cases, despite its large population.

The UK is currently the global hotspot for this outbreak with 302 cases, followed by Spain, Portugal and Canada.

A total of 12 states have reported the virus so far. These are: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. A case was also discovered in Washington DC

WHO experts suggested that the virus may have spread in the UK for four years, but went undetected.