Urgent Updates | August 4, 2022

MONKEYPOX VIRUS INFECTION IN HUMANS ACROSS 16 COUNTRIES — APRIL–JUNE 2022
In this case series, 95% of the persons with monkeypox presented with a rash (with 64% having <10 lesions), 73% had anogenital lesions, and 41% had mucosal lesions (with 54 having a single genital lesion). Monkeypox virus DNA was detected in 29 of the 32 persons in whom seminal fluid was analyzed. The reasons for hospitalization were pain management, mostly for severe anorectal pain (21 persons); soft-tissue superinfection (18); pharyngitis limiting oral intake (5); eye lesions (2); acute kidney injury (2); myocarditis (2); and infection-control purposes (13). No deaths were reported.
Full Access: NEJM

FDA CONSIDERS APPLICATION FOR FIRST-EVER OTC ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE
HRA Pharma has submitted an application for what would become the first-ever over-the-counter birth control pill in the United States, if approved by the FDA. The company applied for a prescription-to-OTC switch for Opill, a progestin-only daily birth control pill that consists of 0.075 mg norgestrel.
Full Access: Healio

PREPARING FOR UNCERTAINTY: ENDEMIC PAEDIATRIC VIRAL ILLNESSES AFTER COVID-19 PANDEMIC DISRUPTION
Before 2020, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and non-pandemic influenza viruses peaked in the winter in northern and southern hemispheres outside of tropical areas. In temperate climates, non-polio enteroviruses circulated in the summer to autumn in cyclical patterns. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a departure from these patterns and, in many locations, usual circulation of these viruses was absent for more than a year only to resurge in unexpected ways. 

After the relaxation of the major non pharmaceutic measures in many settings, upper respiratory tract illnesses due to human rhinoviruses were first to re-emerge in many areas and persist.
Full Access: The Lancet

COVID-19 U.S. IMPACT ON ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE
COVID-19 pandemic reversed years of progress against antimicrobial resistance. The CDC report showed that resistant infections increased 15% from 2019 to 2020 among seven common pathogens.  While antibiotic use throughout the pandemic varied across healthcare settings, antibiotics were commonly prescribed to patients for COVID-19 —even though antibiotics are not effective against viruses.  In 2021 outpatient antibiotic use rebounded. While antibiotic use was lower overall in 2021 compared with 2019, in August 2021, antibiotic use exceeded prescribing in 2019 by 3%. from 2020 through December 2021, most antibiotic prescriptions for adults were for azithromycin and increases in azithromycin prescribing corresponded to peaks in cases of COVID-19.

Full Access: CDC