On Sunday, the World Health Organization announced that 780 laboratory-confirmed monkeypox cases had been reported in 27 countries outside the countries where the disease is endemic, while stressing that the global risk level is still moderate.
The organization suggested that the number of 780 injuries, from May 13 to Thursday, is less than the actual number, given that epidemiological and laboratory information is limited.
“It is very likely that other countries will find cases and the virus will spread further,” the UN health agency said.
Only a few cases were recorded that required the transfer of the injured to hospitals, as well as patients who were subject to health isolation.
The organization listed the countries where the disease is not endemic, which recorded the highest number of infections, namely Britain (207), Spain (156), Portugal (138), Canada (58) and Germany (57).
In addition to Europe and North America, injuries (in single numbers) were recorded in Argentina, Australia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
One infection in a country where the disease is not endemic is considered an outbreak.
The World Health Organization said, “Some countries announce that new generations of infections no longer appear only among known contacts of previously confirmed cases, which indicates that chains of transmission pass undetected.”
And she pointed out in her latest statements regarding the outbreak of the epidemic, that “although the risk to human health and to the public remains small, the risk to public health may become high if the virus takes advantage of the opportunity to establish itself in countries where it is not endemic as a cause of a widespread human disease.” .
“The World Health Organization assesses the risk at the global level as moderate, considering that it is the first time that this number and groups of monkeypox infections have been announced simultaneously in countries where (the disease) is endemic and non-endemic,” she added.
Most of the injuries recorded so far have been reported by sexual health and other bodies, and the bulk of them are related to men who have sexual relations with men, according to the World Health Organization.
The organization stated that many cases do not match the traditional clinical picture of monkeypox, as some reported the appearance of blisters before symptoms such as fever and ulcers in various stages of development, which are unusual cases.
The World Health Organization pointed out that no deaths related to the outbreak of the disease were recorded in countries where the disease is not endemic, but injuries and deaths continue to be recorded in areas where it is considered endemic.
The organization listed the countries where the disease is endemic as Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gabon and Cote d’Ivoire, in addition to Ghana, where it was detected in animals only.
In the first seven countries mentioned, 66 deaths were recorded in the first five months of 2022.
Last week, the World Health Organization held an online meeting of more than 500 experts and 2,000 participants to discuss monkeypox, information gaps and research priorities.
Experts stressed the need to conduct clinical studies on vaccines and treatments to better understand their effectiveness, and called for accelerating research into the epidemiological spread and transmission of the disease.