SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — We’re going to sort out fact from fiction when it comes to the mpox global health emergency.
What is of concern with the outbreak in Africa is this strain is spreading to women and children and is different from the one we saw in 2022.
ABC7 news reporter Tara Campbell spoke with medical experts who say it is way too soon for the Bay Area to worry.
For the second time in two years mpox is being declared a global health emergency.
RELATED: Mpox was declared a global public health emergency by the WHO. Now what?
The World Health Organization says a deadlier strain of the virus is rapidly spreading in Africa.
“The United States is donating 50,000 doses of the FDA approved Geneva’s vaccine to the DRC,” Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson with the State Department.
US officials are hoping to help slow the spread.
“And we’re also working with other countries the WHO. and other international partners to look at the vaccine delivery situation and see what other lines of efforts we can support,” Patel said. Department.
RELATED: WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency
“People at this point should not be concerned,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at UCSF.
He says while traces of the previous variant are still being detected in San Francisco’s wastewater, it’s low compared to the 2022 outbreak.
“What is likely to be detected in the San Francisco wastewater is the background from what we saw in 2022,” Chin-Hong said.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health says wastewater testing shows that a seven-day average for cases of the new variant are zero.
MORE: CDC advisers vote to recommend routine mpox vaccine to prevent high-risk infections
And while there is yet to be a reported case of the new variant in the US, the doctor says it’s still best to take caution.
“Men who have sex with men and trans people who have sex with men, getting up to date on your vaccine is really important at this point,” Chin-Hong said.
The viral disease can spread easily between people and from infected animals.
“Transmission is really the same as what we saw in 2022, so prolonged skin-to-skin contact, so you can’t get it from going on MUNI or going to yoga,” Chin-Hong said.
The CDC said it’s prepared with testing, vaccines and therapeutics if the new variant is to arrive here.
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