Time For A Candid -- And Yet Strident, Assessment Of "What Went Wrong" -- In Mpox's First 100 Days...

I am afraid that, as we all know. . . those who refuse to learn from history. . . are fated to repeat it. [I am looking right at you, Mr. Kennedy, and "Dr." Oz.] This Mpox Clade 1b outbreak is Exhibit A, in that regard.

Do take the time to read it all -- it draws from lessons we should have learned in both COVID-19, and in the last two Clade 2 mpox outbreaks. Here's the UK Guardian's fine piece:

. . .To sum it up, at day 100, we still don’t have a WHO-approved antigen-based RDT, or true point-of-care tests that can distinguish between mpox clades (ie, which type it is) and be easily used in rural communities. Without tests at the community level, efforts to monitor and contain spread will be impeded. Until then, we must decentralise laboratory testing to districts and strengthen human and infrastructural testing capacity.

There is some hope that treatments used for other diseases could be repurposed for mpox, with clinical trials under way and monoclonal antibody-based drugs being explored. But the reality is that after 100 days, no therapeutic is available for the new variant. . . . Efforts are being made to address this through the establishment of a therapeutics development coalition – though this will be a long road, with most candidate treatments still in preclinical stages. . . .

Leaders should actively commit to the equitable rollout of pledged vaccines and implementing community-centred public health measures. They should be accelerating access to promising point-of-care tests that identify different mpox strains and speeding up the evaluation of repurposed treatments, while also investing in development for new treatments and committing to expanding and expediting clinical trials for any promising drugs that arise.

Mpox is testing our resolve and our preparedness. Despite progress, the sad reality is that if we had learned and embedded the lessons from previous emergencies, we could have responded faster. This is the second mpox emergency in two years. If we had accelerated research and development in 2022, we might have had many more tools at our disposal now. . . .

We are watching large, fluffy flakes wheel lazily to the still green lawn, here. . . and wondering. . . wondering: are these middle/center GOP Senators smart enough to vote down nominations that will doubtless cause hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths?

We shall see -- thinking here about. . . Oz; thinking about Kennedy; and yes, Hegseth; McMahon and most of all: Gaetz. Sheesh.

नमस्ते