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Source: https://slate.com/technology/2022/07...s-jynneos.html
We Need to Keep Better Track of Monkeypox
Testing has been too slow to get a good handle on the extent of the outbreak.
By Liz Highleyman
July 09, 20224:12 PM
Andy, a 37-year-old New York City resident, developed excruciating rectal pain after returning from Portugal, an early epicenter of the global monkeypox outbreak.
“It felt like someone was poking me from the inside with a hot fork,” he recalls (“Andy” is a nickname). But he lacked the external sores required to test for monkeypox. Over the course of a week, he visited two urgent care doctors and a hospital emergency room, only to be tested for STDs, given antibiotics and told he might have cancer.
He eventually developed a few external lesions that could be swabbed. Three days later the test came back positive for monkeypox. After some “arm-twisting,” he was able to get TPOXX, an antiviral drug that can be used for treatment, and his symptoms disappeared. “I was so lucky I had friends who were connected,” he said. “Without that, I would probably still be in pain.”
Across the country in San Francisco, Aaron Backman, 33, faced similar frustrations. After getting no response from the sexual health clinics recommended by the Department of Public Health, he got tested at OneMedical, a chain clinic. “If I would have waited, I still wouldn’t be tested by now,” he said. He’s had less luck getting TPOXX, despite having symptoms for two weeks, including a lesion in his throat that “feels like I’m swallowing razor blades.”
Nearly 800 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the United States as of July 8, but, because getting a test can be so hard, no one thinks this reflects the full extent of the outbreak. And while most cases so far have been among gay and bisexual men, anyone can get monkeypox through close personal contact. Some fear the virus is going undetected in other groups...
We Need to Keep Better Track of Monkeypox
Testing has been too slow to get a good handle on the extent of the outbreak.
By Liz Highleyman
July 09, 20224:12 PM
Andy, a 37-year-old New York City resident, developed excruciating rectal pain after returning from Portugal, an early epicenter of the global monkeypox outbreak.
“It felt like someone was poking me from the inside with a hot fork,” he recalls (“Andy” is a nickname). But he lacked the external sores required to test for monkeypox. Over the course of a week, he visited two urgent care doctors and a hospital emergency room, only to be tested for STDs, given antibiotics and told he might have cancer.
He eventually developed a few external lesions that could be swabbed. Three days later the test came back positive for monkeypox. After some “arm-twisting,” he was able to get TPOXX, an antiviral drug that can be used for treatment, and his symptoms disappeared. “I was so lucky I had friends who were connected,” he said. “Without that, I would probably still be in pain.”
Across the country in San Francisco, Aaron Backman, 33, faced similar frustrations. After getting no response from the sexual health clinics recommended by the Department of Public Health, he got tested at OneMedical, a chain clinic. “If I would have waited, I still wouldn’t be tested by now,” he said. He’s had less luck getting TPOXX, despite having symptoms for two weeks, including a lesion in his throat that “feels like I’m swallowing razor blades.”
Nearly 800 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the United States as of July 8, but, because getting a test can be so hard, no one thinks this reflects the full extent of the outbreak. And while most cases so far have been among gay and bisexual men, anyone can get monkeypox through close personal contact. Some fear the virus is going undetected in other groups...