CDC Confirms 2 Cases of Monkeypox in Children
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Two children in the United States have been diagnosed with monkeypox, according to health officials.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the cases are a toddler in California and an infant who is not a U.S. resident. Health officials say both children are being treated and are in good health, likely contracting monkeypox through household transmission.
Additional details of the cases have not been released.
This comes just as the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the monkeypox outbreak has been elevated to a public health emergency.
"In short, we have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria in the International Health Regulations," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
"For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern," he added.
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When the IHR Emergency Committee first convened, 3,040 cases of monkeypox from 47 countries had been reported to the WHO. That number has since grown to more than 16,000 cases from 75 countries and territories, including five deaths.
As the committee then gathered this week, the group was initially unable to reach a consensus on whether the outbreak represented a public health emergency.
RELATED: What to Know About Monkeypox — Including How It Spreads — as the CDC Confirms a U.S. Case
But after considering the IHR's five elements for classifying an outbreak as a public health emergency, the WHO determined that the risk of monkeypox is "moderate globally and in all regions," except in Europe where the risk is high. And although there is a risk of further international spread, it's unlikely to affect international traffic.
The WHO is now organizing a "coordinated response to stop transmission and protect vulnerable groups."
After multiple cases of monkeypox began popping up around the world, the first U.S. cases were reported in Massachusetts back in May. As of Friday, there are 2,891 confirmed monkeypox cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2022 Monkeypox Outbreak Global Map.
The U.S. last saw an outbreak of 47 monkeypox cases in 2003, according to the CDC.
