Your Health: Take precautions to slow monkeypox spread

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Monkeypox is an unfamiliar virus that is spreading everywhere.

It has prompted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency. Health experts said everyone - including children - should take steps to avoid the spread.

The 2022 monkeypox outbreak started with a cluster in the United Kingdom in May. Just weeks later, the first case was reported in the United States. It’s currently in every single state.

“The concern is how do we stop it?” asked Dr. David Winter. “There’s a vaccine out there that does work, but in very short supply, hard to come by.”

And once you get it, how do you treat it?

“There’s an antiviral pill that also helps,” Winter said. “It’s called T-POXX, which is also in short supply right now, hard to come by.”

T-POXX is classified as an investigational drug for monkeypox. It was initially created in case of a bioterrorist smallpox attack. People who have taken a two-week course of the antiviral pills said they felt better within two days. But the government warns they only have 1.7 million courses in their national stockpile.

“T-POXX is a medication that stops the replication, stops a duplication of the virus in your body,” Winter said. “So, it’s very effective – if you can get one.”

Health experts said prevention is the best way to handle monkeypox.

More: Health stories

Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning.

Copyright 2022 WILX. All rights reserved.