21/07/2022 –
A committee of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) A meeting began today in order to decide whether to declare the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international scope, which would imply placing the issue at the highest level of health alert.
The specialists will evaluate the epidemiological indicators after 15,300 cases have been registered in 71 countries in recent weeks, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US public health agency.
“Regardless of the committee’s recommendation, the WHO will continue to do everything possible to stop monkeypox and save lives,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference yesterday.
In a previous meeting on June 23, most of the experts had recommended to the head of the UN agency not to decree the public health emergency of international scope, after an unusual increase in cases outside the countries had been detected since May. from central and western Africa where the virus is endemic.
Since then, it has spread to other countries, with a significant number of infections in Europe.
Monkeypox, which was first detected in humans in 1970, is less dangerous and contagious than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.
In most cases, patients are relatively young men, between 18 and 50 years old, who have homosexual relationships and generally live in cities, according to the WHO.
Until July 18, the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CEDC) registered 7,896 infections by the monkeypox virus, and Spain added the largest number of cases, with 2,835, followed by Germany, 1,924; France, 912; The Netherlands, 656, and Portugal, 515.
“The community that is currently affected is one of the most committed, powerful and responsible that we have, and that worked so hard for years to control an even deadlier virus, HIV,” said WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan. and stressed “his full confidence” in the WHO.
The international organization works closely with civil society and LGBT+ communities to facilitate the dissemination of information about the disease, especially in the organization of festivals and pride marches, in the boreal summer.