An Update on Monkeypox: The Message is the Same for Everyone

Watch the June 7 FYI videoExit Disclaimer on HIV.gov featuring Kaye Hayes, MPA, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Infectious Disease and the Director of the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, Director of the Division of HIV Prevention at CDC as they discuss how Monkeypox is important to all of us.

Learn more about the emerging issue of Monkeypox and how to make informed decisions to protect your health and the health of your community by building awareness guided by science. Dr. Daskalakis shares “there’s no reason to be alarmed…be informed about what each of us can do to protect ourselves and by protecting ourselves our community.”

Kaye Hayes closes the conversation by reiterating “a couple of real takeaway messages for me...Be informed, don’t be alarmed. This impacts everyone.”

Watch the video hereExit Disclaimer.

This week, we also heard from Dr. Maureen Goodenow, Director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR) who shared that, “poxviruses like monkeypox can adapt to host defenses, a concern for immunocompromised individuals, infants, young children, and pregnant persons. To date, there is insufficient experience and evidence to determine whether there are significant differences in clinical outcomes of monkeypox virus among persons with HIV who take antiretroviral treatment (ART). The HIV clinical guidelines working groups of the NIH OAR Advisory Council recommend ART for all persons with HIV and advise that interruptions of ART should be avoided. The NIH OAR will continue to monitor the outbreak and determine if specific clinical recommendations and research regarding HIV and monkeypox co-infection are warranted.”

To learn more, visit CDC.gov.