(From left) Kyle Enfield, MD, and William Petri, MD
UVA Department of Medicine’s Kyle Enfield, MD, a pulmonary critical care specialist, and William Petri, MD, PhD, an infectious diseases expert, discussed the monkeypox (mpox) outbreak in Africa at a UVA Health news briefing that was picked up by news stations across Virginia and in USA Today.
MPox was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). Concern is on the rise as new mpox cases are being discovered outside Africa, with an emerging strain appearing more contagious.
International travel makes it probable that the more harmful form of the virus will eventually reach the U.S. However, Dr. Enfield offered some reassuring insights for those preparing for this possibility.
“When you have diseases like mpox where close skin-to-skin contact or close human contact is necessary, as opposed to respiratory diseases, you’re likely to see a slower spread than you are in a disease like influenza, COVID and other respiratory diseases, which just have a better ability to spread from human to human and therefore disseminate across populations faster,’’ Enfield said.
Read the full article at USA Today.
Filed Under: Media Highlights