GENEVA, Switzerland — The
World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday it would hold an
emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the global
monkeypox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.
اضافة اعلان
The UN agency is
also working to change the name of the disease, which was long confined to
Western and Central Africa until more than 1,000 cases were detected in dozens
of countries across the world over the last two months.
“The outbreak of
monkeypox is unusual and concerning,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told
journalists.
“For that reason
I have decided to convene the Emergency Committee under the international
health regulations next week, to assess whether this outbreak represents a
public health emergency of international concern”.
The emergency
committee will meet on June 23 to discuss the designation, which is the highest
alarm the UN agency can sound.
New name
Tedros added that the “WHO is also working with partners and experts
from around the world on changing the name of
monkeypox virus ... and the
disease it causes.”
“We will make
announcements about the new names as soon as possible.”
The announcement
comes after more than 30 scientists wrote last week that there was an “urgent
need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing nomenclature for monkeypox”.
“In the context
of the current global outbreak, continued reference to, and nomenclature of
this virus being African is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and
stigmatizing,” they wrote.
While monkeypox
was first discovered in macaques, many cases are believed to be transmitted to
humans by rodents.
The normal
initial symptoms of monkeypox include a high fever, swollen lymph nodes and a
blistery chickenpox-like rash.
However, the
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that current cases do
not always present flu-like symptoms, and rashes are sometimes limited to
certain areas.
Tedros said that
1,600 confirmed monkeypox cases and 1,500 suspected cases have been reported to
the WHO this year from 39 countries, 32 of which have been recently hit by the
virus.
While 72 deaths
have been reported in countries where monkeypox was already endemic, none have
been seen in the newly affected countries, Tedros said.
“Although WHO is
seeking to verify news reports from Brazil of a monkeypox-related death there,”
he added.
No mass vaccination
To fight the global spread, the WHO aims to recommend “tried-and-tested
public health tools including surveillance, contact-tracing and isolation of
infected patients”.
However, the WHO
does not recommend mass vaccination against monkeypox, he said, after the
European Union said Tuesday it had purchased almost 110,000 vaccine doses.
“While smallpox
vaccines are expected to provide some protection against monkeypox, there is
limited clinical data, and limited supply,” Tedros told journalists.
“Any decision
about whether to use vaccines should be made jointly by individuals who may be
at risk and their health care provider, based on an assessment of risks and
benefits, on a case-by-case basis.”
Rosamund Lewis,
WHO’s technical lead for monkeypox, told journalists that there are a few
smallpox vaccines that may be protective against monkeypox.
But “much of the
data that we have is from years gone by, and/or from clinical studies — there
is not a lot of clinical data,” she said.
She called on
countries that are vaccinating to share their research and pointed to a set of
interim guidance documents released by the WHO.
Tedros also
emphasized that vaccines must be “available equitably wherever needed,” adding
that the WHO is working with its member states “to develop a mechanism for fair
access to vaccines and treatments”.
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