2023-12-23 13:04:00
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the viral disease Mpox might become a global threat. The disease was long known as “monkeypox”. In 2022, the WHO renamed it due to widespread stigmatization of those affected.
As reported by Merkur, among others, WHO expert Rosamund Lewis explicitly commented on Mpox. In Geneva she was concerned that there would be international transmission. The main distribution area is currently the Congo.
Compared to the previous year, reported cases in Congo have more than doubled to over 13,000. Over 600 people have already died there from the viral disease. According to Lewis, Mpox poses “a risk to people in DRC, in neighboring countries and around the world.”
Over 1,000 cases a month are now reported worldwide; in the summer there were around 100 a month. In addition to the Congo, Japan, Vietnam, China and Indonesia are particularly affected.
The natural hosts of Mpox are various rodents in West and Central Africa that transmit the virus to humans. People become infected through close contact with infected people, including during sexual intercourse.
Symptoms of the disease include severe fever and skin changes such as rashes, blisters, pustules, sores and scabs. The course of the disease ranges from mild to, in rare cases, fatal.
Mpox had already appeared increasingly in Europe in spring 2022. At that time, the virus spread particularly among men who have sex with men. The health emergency of international concern declared by the WHO at the time was lifted in May of this year.
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