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Concern about the spread of the monkeypox virus has risen recently, due to unusual patterns of cases globally, and a confirmed case in the U.S. last week.
Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness related to the smallpox virus. Because it is rare, it is very unlikely that emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians will encounter a person infected with monkeypox during routine operations. However, EMS providers should be appraised on the status of disease transmission in the current outbreak. They should be prepared to identify symptoms and perform proper safety and response protocols if monkeypox is encountered.
Monkeypox illness begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by a rash that often begins on the face and then spreads to other parts of the body. It is spread through close contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, or shared items (such as clothing and bedding) that have been contaminated with fluids or sores of a person with monkeypox.
Monkeypox is found mainly in Central and Western Africa. In the past several years, cases of monkeypox have been detected outside of Africa, typically linked to international travel or imported animals, but outbreaks usually do not spread across borders.
However, according to a Health Advisory released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), since May 14, clusters of monkeypox cases have been reported in several countries that don’t normally have monkeypox, including Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
On May 18, a single case of monkeypox was confirmed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health of infection in an adult male with recent travel to Canada. As of this writing, no additional cases have been confirmed in the U.S., but several probable cases in Utah, Florida, New York City and Virginia are being monitored.
The International Society for Infectious Diseases’ (ISID’s) Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) is the largest publicly available system conducting global reporting of infectious disease outbreaks. ISID is monitoring the global monkeypox outbreaks, and reports that, while the disease is unlikely to trigger widespread transmission, these latest outbreaks are significantly different than monkeypox’s usual patterns of spread.
In response to the confirmed Massachusetts case and increased reporting of cases around the world, the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) published strategies for EMS for response to the current monkeypox outbreak. The article provides guidance to EMS providers on how to identify signs, symptoms, and risk factors; prevent person-to-person transmission; and inform public health authorities.
EMS providers should consult their state health department or CDC’s monkeypox call center through the CDC Emergency Operations Center (770-488-7100) as soon as monkeypox is suspected.
For more information on response to the current monkeypox outbreak, check out the NETEC’s monkeypox page and resource library. In addition to the information in this article, the United States Fire Administration has posted information for EMS on the recent monkeypox outbreak on its website.
(Sources: NETEC, CDC, ISID)
In preparation for hurricane season, the National Hurricane Program (NHP) is offering its annual virtual training series for emergency managers on HURREVAC. The 2022 Webinar Series for HURREVAC will run from June 6 through June 10. Each day, sessions will start at 2:00 p.m. EST and run 60–90 minutes.
HURREVAC is a web-based hurricane evacuation decision support tool provided free to emergency managers in state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. Learning how to use HURREVAC can help emergency managers prepare for and execute tough response and evacuation decisions when a hurricane threatens. In addition to operational decision-making, HURREVAC can be used for training, exercises and hurricane preparedness and planning efforts.
HURREVAC combines real-time National Hurricane Center forecast products and storm surge modeling with evacuation clearance times from Hurricane Evacuation Studies. HURREVAC is continually updated with new forecast information to provide emergency managers real-time data for informed decision making.
HURREVAC also has functionalities that support deliberate blue-skies planning within the Storm Surge Explorer and the new Storm Simulator, which was released to emergency management users before the 2021 hurricane season. In previous years, customizing simulations for hurricane planning took weeks to months. Now, through the HURREVAC Storm Simulator, emergency managers have the power to create tailored storms to test their hurricane readiness and evacuation capabilities in a matter of minutes.
The daily HURREVAC training sessions are:
HURREVAC is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Hurricane Program through a multi-agency partnership between FEMA, the United States Army Core of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center.
Visit HURREVAC.com to learn more and register for the webinars in this series.
(Sources: FEMA, HURREVAC.com)
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have partnered to host a 3-part education and awareness series in June for the Emergency Services Sector (ESS).
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Veterinary Medicines and Potential Use in Criminal Activity Awareness Briefing will be held on Wednesday, June 1 at 1 p.m. EST. The webinar will include a presentation on the potential use of veterinary medicines as drugs of abuse, vulnerabilities that could contribute to their use in criminal activity, and the impact on the first responder community.
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Bioterrorism Awareness Briefing will be held on Wednesday, June 15 at 1 p.m. EST. It will include a presentation by the FBI on why a perpetrator might utilize a biological agent and on key players in responding to a threat/ incident. The webinar will also provide an explanation of the role of the Joint Criminal-Epidemiologic Investigations Program (“Crim-Epi”) and its partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to train local law enforcement and public health personnel on working together during a bioterrorism event.
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Food and Agriculture Sector Threat Awareness Briefing will be held on Wednesday, June 29 at 1 p.m. EST. This will be a two-part briefing covering the FBI's countermeasure programs against threats to food and agriculture infrastructure. Part one will cover the Animal Plant Health Joint Criminal-Epidemiological Investigations Course (“APH Crim-Epi”). This course emphasizes development of interagency investigational protocols, techniques, and procedures that are critical to detect, recognize, report, prevent, and disrupt potential or on-going threats against the agriculture sector. Part two will provide an overview of the FBI's Food Defense Program. The purpose of this program is to identify and prevent intentional food contamination. The webinar will highlight effective practices for coordination and response to such an incident.
The ESS Resilience Development Webinar Series is a quarterly series facilitated by CISA’s Emergency Services Sector Management Team, focusing on topics of interest to ESS stakeholders. It is part of CISA’s ESS Resilience Development Project.
No advanced registration is required to attend the webinar series. To participate, visit CISA’s HSIN Connect Room for each webinar at the scheduled time using the links below:
(Source: CISA)
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