Similar to Covid-19 and HIV, health authorities have classified the common male infection known as mpox as a Class B infectious disease.
In China, the prevalence of the illness, once known as monkeypox, has increased substantially.
According to the National Health Commission and data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), China has classified mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, as a Class B infectious disease as case numbers soar. The majority of infections occur in men and are linked to sexual transmission.
The NHC made the change official on Friday and stated that it would go into effect starting on next Wednesday, improving disease prevention and control strategies.
Additionally, illnesses including Covid-19, HIV/Aids, dengue fever, and rabies are classified as Class B diseases.
The mpox outbreak was deemed a "public health emergency of international concern" by the WHO in July of last year. In May of this year, the WHO overturned the categorization.
There were 501 confirmed cases in 25 provinces in August, according to the CDC website. Comparatively, there were 106 instances in June and 491 cases in July. Authorities reported that no serious or fatal cases have been reported to date.
Experts emphasized difficulties in containing the disease's spread on the CDC website, stating that the virus had silently spread through sex between men. According to authorities, a continual influx of patients from abroad had increased risk while about 80% of those cases were isolated, making it impossible to trace the source of the infection.
The primary symptoms of mpox, a viral zoonosis brought on by the MPXV virus, include fever, rash, and enlarged lymph nodes. The WHO estimates that the disease, which has been common in Central and West Africa, has a death rate of 0.1% to 10%.
According to the World Health Organization, "death rates in different settings may vary due to a number of factors, including access to health care and underlying immunosuppression."
Since January 2022, 111 nations and regions have recorded more than 87,000 mpox cases; 140 people have died as a result.
"The current epidemic round exhibits the following characteristics: 98.9% of the instances include men, and 92.5% of them had MSM [men who have sex with men] confirmed. All five female patients had histories of sex with men within 21 days of the initiation, according to epidemiological research listed on the CDC website.
Only one person has been infected through close non-sexual contact; sexual contact is the predominant method of transmission.
The vast majority of instances, or 93.2%, were found through voluntary medical consultations, with 5.3% also being found by close contact tracing.
Others were found after voluntary reporting and physical examinations, according to the website.
"Most cases exhibit typical clinical symptoms, including fever, vesicles, and swollen lymph nodes, with no severe or fatal cases reported."
The genotypes of mpox viruses found in China, according to surveillance data, are all members of the group IIB (West African clade), which is mostly prevalent in some nations in Europe, North America, and Asia.
The WHO highlighted that although mpox is mostly spread through sexual contact among homosexual, bisexual, and other MSM populations, the severity of symptoms can vary greatly and most mpox-infected people recover well.
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