New York, Aug 9 : In spite of the US declaring monkeypox to be a public health emergency, the former US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) director Scott Gottlieb said that it is possible to stop it from becoming an epidemic disease — a possibility officials may have failed with Covid-19.Gottlieb stated that the response to the virus must be broader to stop it, however.
At present, tests have been restricted to homosexual and bisexual men -which comprise the majority of cases, he said, the DailyMail reported on CBS.Gottlieb is of the opinion that more cases could be discovered if testing were extended beyond that particular group.
His remarks come just several days after the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared an emergency public health emergency due to the virus in the last week.
Last week, Gottlieb said that should the disease become endemic it could be a major failure as this could have been avoided.
He said that, unlike the time Covid first appeared, there were already proven tests and vaccines available to stop the illness in its tracks.However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was unable to take action quickly instead, relying on the same “protracted checklist” and making many of the same mistakes made when Covid struck.
He recently published in the New York Times that should the disease take hold it would be a catastrophe due to the fact that it could have been avoided and also because infections that cause blisters on the body are painful.Many patients have stated that the symptoms they experience were “worse than Covid”.
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