The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently developing guidelines to contain the spread of monkeypox. There are fears that the number of cases might rise further in the summer months, WHO chief adviser on infection risks David Heymann told Archyde.com on Saturday. The WHO assumes that the outbreak was triggered by sexual contact.
More than 100 confirmed cases
So far, monkeypox has appeared in eleven countries where it does not usually spread. Scientists consider this to be very unusual. Monkeypox occurs mainly in Africa and rarely elsewhere. So far, more than 100 confirmed or suspected cases have been reported, most of them in Europe, in Austria there has not yet been any evidence of the virus. There are three cases in Austria’s neighbor Germany and one proven infection in Switzerland.
The Gay Pride, which took place on Gran Canaria in May, is suspected to be one of the sources of infection. Men from Italy, from Madrid and from the neighboring island of Tenerife, where the virus was detected, are said to have taken part in the celebrations. Intimate contacts are a possible transmission route for the virus. According to the RKI, men who have sex with men should “immediately seek medical care” if they have any unusual skin changes.
Close contact is the most important transmission route for the virus, said Heymann. For example, parents who take care of sick children are just as at risk as health workers. He stressed that the monkeypox outbreak was not comparable to the early days of the coronavirus pandemic because the disease is not as easily transmitted.
Previous cases of monkeypox have usually been due to travel to areas in west and central Africa where the virus is known, according to the WHO. The first person affected in Great Britain had also entered the country from Nigeria. According to the WHO, monkeypox has increased in people in Nigeria since 2017.