Amid rising cases of monkeypox, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed it can be spread through the air, but only through ‘sustained’ face-to-face contact with an infected person.
During a Friday briefing, CDC chief Rochelle Walensky said monkeypox was transmitted through physical contact with symptomatic patients and by touching their clothing and bedding, the Daily Mail reports.
But attempting to determine whether face masks are necessary to avoid catching the rash-causing virus, the epidemiologist explained that the rash-causing virus would not “linger in the air” like Covid.
“The disease is not spread through casual conversations, passing other people in a grocery store, or touching things like doorknobs,” she said.
“All of the cases we have seen so far in this outbreak have been linked to direct contact. »
During the conference, health officials also called on Americans with any sexually transmitted infection, including syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia, to get tested for monkeypox.
They warned that many patients were suffering from rashes and sores on their genitals and anus that looked like STIs.
Several cases of co-infection with monkeypox and a sexually transmitted disease have also been recorded.
Walensky pointed out that the virus was transmitted only through the air via large droplets expelled from infected people that quickly fall to the ground.