The first cases of the viral infection, monkeypox have been identified in a toddler in California and an infant who is not a US resident. The two cases do not correlate and may have been caused as a result of household transmission as per the statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both the children are in good health and under treatment. 

Monkeypox is a viral infection causing flu-like symptoms and skin lesions which has so far been spreading largely in men who have sex with men in the recent outbreak, outside the West and Central Africa where it is endemic. The disease is transmitted primarily through close contact with the infected individual. 

To date this year, more than 14, 000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in over 60 countries, and five deaths in Africa. Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC’s division of high consequence pathogens and pathology, said, “it is not a surprise that pediatric cases of monkeypox have emerged, but there is no evidence to date that we are seeing this virus spread outside of the communities of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.”  She also informed that out of the total cases reported in the US, 99% of cases involve men who have sex with men, along with a few women and transgender men. 

According to Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator, the government has delivered 300, 000 doses of a monkeypox vaccine and is also working towards getting another shipment from Denmark comprising 786, 000 additional doses. 

[Source: ETHealthWorld. 23 July 2022. https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/u-s-identifies-first-cases-of-monkeypox-in-children/93063932]