How Monkeypox Became A Public Health Emergency

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2022

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

The White House officially declared monkeypox a public health emergency in the United States last week. More than 7,500 cases of the virus have been confirmed since it began spreading across the country in May.

Today's show: Health reporter Pien Huang on how the outbreak began, how it gathered steam and whether monkeypox is on track to become an endemic disease in the United States.

Check out more of NPR's reporting on monkeypox:
- Monkeypox: The myths, misconceptions — and facts — about how you catch it
- He discovered the origin of the monkeypox outbreak — and tried to warn the world
- How we talk about monkeypox matters. Experts offer ways to reduce stigma

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to shortwave.
0:03.6	From NPR.
0:05.3	Hey short waivers, producer Thomas Lu here with Health Reporter Ping Huang.
0:09.4	So Ping, you've been covering monkey pox for several weeks now.
0:12.7	Watching cases escalate and escalate.
0:15.0	Mm-hmm.
0:16.0	And since the first case in the US was detected in Boston and May, it's been found in 48 states
0:21.9	and case counts are booming.
0:23.4	Morning.
0:24.4	A Massachusetts man is in isolation after being diagnosed with the first case of monkey pox
0:29.4	in the US to see it.
0:30.4	Yeah, the agency reports more than 7,500 cases of monkey pox nationwide.
0:35.5	You're every American to take monkey pox seriously and to take responsibility to help us tackle
0:42.6	this virus.
0:44.0	And the US has declared a public health emergency in response to the disease, which for anyone
0:49.0	who doesn't know is caused by a virus related to smallpox.
0:52.5	Right.
0:53.5	They would smudge less deadly and less transmissible.
0:56.1	And the response is giving people some deja vu, like it's COVID all over again, or even
1:01.2	early HIV-AIDS days.
1:03.4	Right and that's because right now it's most prevalent among gay and queer folks and their
1:07.4	sexual networks, primarily men who have sex with men.
	...

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