The
WHO said that hundreds of monkeypox cases have surfaced beyond the
African countries where the disease is typically found, warning the virus has
likely been spreading under the radar.
اضافة اعلان
"Investigations are ongoing, but the sudden appearance of monkeypox in
many countries at the same time suggests there may have been undetected
transmission for some time," World Health Organization chief Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
Since Britain first reported a confirmed monkeypox case on May 7, more than
550 confirmed cases of the disease have been verified in 30 countries outside
of the west and central African nations where it is endemic, the WHO said.
The UN health agency's top monkeypox expert Rosamund Lewis said that the
appearance of so many cases across much of Europe and other countries where it
has not been seen before "is clearly a cause for concern, and it does
suggest undetected transmission for a while".
"We don't know if it is weeks, months or possibly a couple for
years," she said, adding that "we don't really know if it is too late
to contain".
Monkeypox is related to smallpox, which killed millions around the world
every year before it was eradicated in 1980.
- 'Fight stigma' -
But monkeypox, which spreads through close contact, is much less severe,
with symptoms typically including a high fever and a blistery chickenpox-like
rash that clears up after a few weeks.
So far, most cases have been reported among men who have sex with men,
although experts stress there is no evidence that monkeypox is transmitted
sexually.
"Anyone can be infected with monkeypox if they have close physical
contact with someone else who is infected," Tedros said.
He urged everyone to help "fight stigma, which is not just wrong, it
could also prevent infected individuals from seeking care, making it harder to
stop transmission."
The WHO, he said, was also "urging affected countries to widen their
surveillance".
Lewis insisted it was vital "that we collectively all work together to
prevent onward spread," through contact tracing and isolation of
people with the disease.
Vaccines developed for smallpox have also been found to be about 85 percent
effective in preventing monkeypox, but they are in short supply.
WHO is not proposing mass-vaccination, but rather targeted use in some
settings to protect health workers and people most at risk of infection.
Lewis highlighted that monkeypox cases had also been on the rise in endemic
countries, where thousands fall ill from the disease each year, with around 70
deaths from the virus reported across five African countries so far this year.
The fatality rate for monkeypox is usually quite low, and no deaths have
been reported among the cases found so far outside of endemic countries.
But Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO lead on emerging diseases, warned that while
no deaths had been reported, that could change if the virus got into more
vulnerable populations.
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