Monkeypox Clinical and Policy Update
This is the first in a series of clinical and policy updates on the Monkeypox virus. 
The CDC Monkeypox website is continually updated with information on transmission and other news. 

Monkeypox can spread to anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, including:
  • Direct contact with Monkeypox rash, scabs or body fluids from a person with Monkeypox
  • Touching objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding or towels) and surfaces that have been used by someone with Monkeypox
  • Contact with respiratory secretions
Monkeypox Updates

July 27
The CDC issued a Dear Colleague letter addressing patient pain experience and pain management strategies. Read the letter here. 

Aug. 2
ANAC and the Center for Infectious Disease and Nurse Innovation hosted a webinar, Clinical Management of Monkeypox – What nurses need to know. Clinical manifestations, testing, treatment, prevention and infection control are covered. A recording of the webinar is available for on-demand viewing with the opportunity to obtain continuing education contact hours. View the recording.

Aug. 4
The US Department of Health and Human Services declared Monkeypox a national health emergency. This gives federal agencies power to:
  • Direct money toward developing and evaluating vaccines and drugs 
  • Access emergency funding and to hire additional workers 

Additionally, it allows the FDA to authorize diagnostic, treatment and prevention modalities with streamlined, shorter review (Emergency Use Authorization). It also allows data sharing and access between the CDC, health departments and health providers.

The declaration comes more than a week after the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency. That designation can lead member countries to invest significant resources in controlling an outbreak, draw more funding to the response, and encourage nations to share vaccines, treatments and other key resources for containing the outbreak.
ANAC believes in leading with science and evidence. Monkeypox is transmitted by direct contact or respiratory secretions. It is not a sexually transmitted infection, but it can be transmitted during sex and in other circumstances of person-to-person contact. Click here for more information on infection control measures.