A spike in monkey pox cases around the world prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to announce a major warning about the disease, while raising concerns among many rushing to get the vaccine. Now universities are once again faced with the challenge of preparing students for potential campus outbreaks, just as some came out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the WHO declared monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern” on Saturday as it continues to spread worldwide with more than 21,100 confirmed cases reported worldwide as of Thursday.
News week spoke to health experts who warned outbreaks could be happening on college campuses as universities prepare for the new academic year next month. However, they noted a few steps that campuses could take as precautions in response to the risks of monkeypox.
What is Monkeypox?
Monkeypox spreads through direct contact with the infectious rash or bodily fluids, prolonged face-to-face contact, touching contaminated surfaces, and contact with infected animals. Symptoms include fever, headache, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, respiratory symptoms such as sore throat or cough, and a rash that can look like pimples or blisters, according to the CDC.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also noted that the current outbreak around the world is “concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those who have multiple partners”.
However, Jonathan Temte, the associate dean of public health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, warned of “adverse approaches” in addressing monkeypox risks to avoid stigma surrounding the disease.
“Monkeypox doesn’t care if you’re gay, straight or trans. It doesn’t matter. People are susceptible,” he said in an interview with the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation earlier this month. “It’s most common in the gay community right now, in men who have sex with men, simply because this is where things start.”
“Accept the fact that this is a communicable disease that requires skin-to-skin contact and sometimes closer contact through large respiratory droplets,” he added.
Can Monkeypox Spread Across Campus?
Jay Varma, professor of Population Health Sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College, said: News week on Friday that there is a risk that monkeypox could cause outbreaks on campuses.
“One path is through the same social networks it is now spreading into — the sexual networks of gay men. Another path, of course, is through close skin-to-skin contact in places like athletic teams, gyms, and theater groups,” said Varma, an expert on the field. of disease prevention and control.
Similarly, Temte related: News week that “there is always an increased risk of monkey pox spreading”, partly because of the transmissible nature of the disease.
Although most experts who spoke to News week on monkey pox, some agreed that college campuses are at risk of outbreaks among students, Gary Kobinger, director of the Galveston National Laboratory, disagreed with this possibility.
“This is highly unlikely in the current environment. Currently, the vast majority of cases involve intimate relationships. While classmates may spend hours together in classrooms and other educational activities, the nature of the contacts is not conducive to MPX [monkeypox] transmission,” he told News week on Friday.
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How can universities address the risks of Monkeypox?
According to health experts, communication is one of the first steps universities should take as they prepare to welcome students next month. Other steps are also recommended for preparing in the event of an outbreak or dealing with suspicious cases.
Temte said students should be aware of the symptoms, the need for early detection, prevention, testing and isolation, among other related topics. Meanwhile, Amesh Adalja, a senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told: News week that universities “should have ways to link at-risk students to vaccination, an agreement between student health and labs to facilitate testing, an opportunity to access TPOXX [antiviral medication] if necessary, and designated rooms for infected persons to isolate in.”
Meanwhile, Varma said universities should use the same resources they used during COVID-19 to track cases on campuses and trace contacts of cases. Health experts also said public health departments should be involved as soon as possible in case of outbreaks or suspected cases.
Temte added that students who may have been exposed to monkey pox should be screened for, among other things, an evaluation of their travel history and risk-taking behavior.
“[Universities] must be proactive and have a multifaceted plan for awareness, vaccination, treatment and isolation, ready to execute before cases appear,” said Adalja.