Monkey Pox - Most doctors haven't a clue.

This is concerning a man in the USA ( below ) and his fight to get recognition for how he had Monkey Pox and how many doctors didn't have a clue.

When I was ill recently - not Monkey Pox - I waited 59 minutes on hold - on the phone - to be interviewed BY A RECEPTIONIST - NOT A DOCTOR - who then told me she would get the doctor to call me back IN 3 WEEKS TIME, and when I complained, she simply hung up.

OUTRAGEOUS.

Here in the UK the NHS is offering a VERY SHODDY SERVICE compared to what we are use to and MANY people are simply not bothering and are catering to their ill health at home, knowing the stress involved with dealing with these fucking arrogant receptionists who seem to think they are God's all of a sudden and then hang up on ill and frightened people IS AN OUTRAGE.

I waited 45 minutes this morning ' on hold' for the doctor again and stupidly knocked the phone and it hung up... and I now have to wait until tomorrow morning at 8.30am precisely - to try again and although I called dead on 8.30am this morning, I was initially number 18 in the queue and it took 45 minutes to get down to number 6, when I accidentally caused the phone to hang up.

My language was ripe....

It seems it is okay for them to throw abuse at us, but as soon as you complain or slightly raise your voice,

' I am not here to tolerate your abuse'

and down goes the phone - BUT THEY CAN FUCKING ABUSE US WITH CRAPPY SERVICE OFFERED TO ILL AND FRIGHTENED PATIENTS AND THINK NOTHING OF IT... HENCE... MOST DOCTORS RECEPTIONISTS - ARE WOMEN.

Need I say more.

----------------------------

Two days after Kevin Kwong flew home to California from New York, his hands itched so badly, the pain jolted him from sleep. He thought the problem was eczema.

“Everything started rapidly getting worse,” the Emeryville, California, resident said. “I started to get more spots, on my face, more redness and they started leaking fluid. The rash expanded to my elbows and my hands and my ankles.”

It took Kwong, 33, six virtual appointments with doctors and nurses, one call to a nurse hotline, a trip to an urgent care clinic, two emergency room visits, and two incorrect diagnoses before an infectious disease specialist diagnosed him with monkeypox in early July.

Despite taking two tests, he never tested positive.

As the number of monkeypox cases has exploded in the U.S. in the past month, the public health system is struggling to spread the word about the virus’s danger and distribute a limited supply of vaccines to vulnerable people. But the problem extends even further.

People who may be infected are grappling with dead ends, delays, incorrect diagnoses, and inappropriate treatments as they navigate an unprepared and ill-informed health care system.

The once-obscure virus has hospitals racing to teach emergency room staffers how to correctly identify and test for it. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, the infectious disease specialist at the University of California-San Francisco who ultimately diagnosed Kwong, said his case was a tipping point for the research hospital.

“Kevin came in the middle of the night when a lot of resources weren’t available. So I think after his case, we’re doing a lot more education of the general condition. But I think your average clinician doesn’t always know what to do,” Chin-Hong said.

Monkeypox is caused by a virus in the same family as smallpox, though it’s not as transmissible or fatal. Typically, patients have a fever, muscle aches, and then a rash on their face, mouth, hands, and possibly genitals that can last for several weeks.

The current outbreak is spreading via human-to-human contact, such as touching a lesion, or exchanging saliva or other bodily fluids. People can also become infected by touching objects or surfaces, such as sex toys or sheets, shared with someone with the illness.

The first U.S. monkeypox case of this outbreak was reported May 17, and since then, the number has grown to more than 6,300 probable or confirmed cases representing almost every state, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday declared a state of emergency to coordinate response and bolster the state’s vaccination efforts. About half of California’s 1,135 monkeypox cases have been concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Although anyone can get infected, the outbreak appears to have largely affected men who have sex with men. Kwong said he likely contracted monkeypox from a sexual encounter during New York Pride events.

“This is the first-ever multicontinental outbreak, so it’s not just going to vanish,” said Andrew Noymer, an associate professor at the University of California-Irvine who studies infectious diseases.

“This is not going to blow up like Covid, but this outbreak is going to have legs,” he said. “It may be like syphilis and it’ll just sort of be around.”

But most doctors don’t know how to recognize it. In late June, when Kwong began experiencing symptoms, most of the doctors and nurses he spoke with during virtual visits didn’t even mention monkeypox. That doesn’t surprise Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at UCLA.

“Even though I’ve worked on and off in several sub-Saharan African countries over the last 25 years, I’ve actually never treated a case of monkeypox,” Brewer said. “Before this current outbreak, monkeypox was a very unusual disease.”