2023-05-09 15:39:19
The emergency committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) will discuss the global situation with Mpox (formerly monkeypox) in Geneva on Wednesday. The independent experts are discussing whether the highest alert level, the health emergency declared in July 2022, should be lifted. Just last Friday, the WHO lifted the state of emergency due to the corona pandemic following more than three years.
Such a measure has no direct consequences. Each country decides for itself on the necessary protective measures. Rather, the state of emergency is imposed to alert governments to a threat.
The spread of Mpox over the past year prompted major fears of a new global health threat. Until then, the disease was only known from a few African countries. Then suddenly the evidence in numerous countries piled up. Since the beginning of 2022, a good 87,000 cases of Mpox infections and 140 deaths from 111 countries have been reported to the WHO. Because there are few test options in many places and not everyone affected reports, the true numbers are likely to be higher.
Most of the newly affected countries have the outbreaks under control once more.
Mpox are transmitted through close physical contact and lead, among other things, to blisters and pustules on the skin.
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