Media Briefing: Flu Season, COVID, Mpox, Avian Flu, and Parvovirus – Tackling the Spread & Seeking Protection
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Monkeypox virus (mpoxv) has re-emerged, designated on August 14 as a global emergency by the World Health Organization. Newly evolved strains of mpox viruses can efficiently spread among people. In addition to skin rashes, mpox infection can cause eye complications including inflammation of the clear tissue covering the iris and pupil called the cornea (keratitis), the tissue covering the white of the eye and the underside of the eyelid (conjunctivitis, or pink eye), and the eyelid (blepharitis).
Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) are investigating how the mutated clade 1 mpox virus may affect children and older patients—and how new vaccines can help the body fight back.
Mpox continues to circulate in the U.S. among gay and bisexual men who have sex with men. Though the number fell sharply to only 3 cases during the June through December 2023 multisite surveillance period compared to the previous highs, concern for its reemergence continues due to, among other things, incomplete knowledge among other groups.
Mount Sinai scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) in Madrid, Spain, have located and identified alterations in the monkeypox virus genome that potentially correlate with changes in the virus’s transmissibility observed in the 2022 outbreak.
The Martinot Lab at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, where faculty and students have been researching the mpox virus in endometrial tissues to raise awareness of the potential increased risk of mpox virus for women.
A new international study led by Queen Mary University of London has shown mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) infections to be less severe among those who are vaccinated or had a previous infection in 2022, underlining the importance and effectiveness of vaccination.