A child in Oregon has tested positive for monkeypox, state health officials announced Wednesday, marking the ninth reported pediatric case in the U.S.
“We have a known connection to a previously diagnosed case,” Dr. Dean Sidelinger, health officer and state epidemiologist at the Oregon Health Authority, said in a press release. “This child did not get the virus at school, child care or another community setting.”
The case has been linked to an adult monkeypox infection that was confirmed last month, officials said, adding that public health authorities received the positive test result on Aug. 15.
abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/7th-child-us-tests-positive-monkeypox/story?id=88417787
Sex between men, not skin contact, is fueling monkeypox, new research suggests
The claim that skin-to-skin contact during sex between men, not intercourse itself, drives most monkeypox transmission is likely backward, a growing group of experts say.
Since the outset of the global monkeypox outbreak in May, public health and infectious disease experts have told the public that the virus is largely transmitting through skin-to-skin contact, in particular during sex between men.
Now, however, an expanding cadre of experts has come to believe that sex between men itself — both anal as well as oral intercourse — is likely the main driver of global monkeypox transmission. The skin contact that comes with sex, these experts say, is probably much less of a risk factor.
In recent weeks, a growing body of scientific evidence — including a trio of studies published in peer-reviewed journals, as well as reports from national, regional and global health authorities — has suggested that experts may have framed monkeypox’s typical transmission route precisely backward.