The World Health Organization activated this July 23 its highest level of alert to try to contain the outbreak of monkeypoxwhich has already infected almost 17,000 people in 74 countriesannounced its CEO.
“I have decided to declare a public health emergency of international scope,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the WHO, affirming that the risk in the world is relatively moderate, except in Europe, where it is high.
Tedros explained that the expert committee had been unable to reach a consensus and remained divided on the need for the highest alert level. Ultimately, the decision rests with the CEO. “It’s a call to action, but it’s not the first,” said Mike Ryan, head of emergencies at the WHO.
Monkeypox: the world is on high alert but only a Danish vaccine is available
Warning once morest discrimination
Since the beginning of May, an unusual increase in cases has been detected outside the countries of Central and West Africa where the virus is endemic, spreading throughout the world, with a high number of infections in Europe.
The illness it has already affected more than 16,836 people in 74 countriesaccording to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of July 22.
Monkeypox – which was first detected in humans in 1970 – is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin smallpox, eradicated in 1980.
In most cases, the patients are men, relatively young, who have homosexual relationships and usually live in cities.indicated the WHO.
According to a study of New England Journal of Medicine conducted on 528 people in 16 countries – the largest to date – 95% of cases were infected through sexual intercourse.
“This form of transmission represents both an opportunity for targeted public health interventions and a challenge, as in some countries affected communities face forms of discrimination that put their lives at risk.”said Tedros.
The head of the WHO also stressed that “there is a real concern that men who have sex with men may be stigmatized or blamed for the outbreak, making it more difficult to track and contain” cases.
In this sense, Lawrence Gostin, American public health law expert and director of the WHO Center for Health Lawhad pointed out on Twitter on Friday that if the reason for not declaring a high alert “is due to the fact that it is restricted to the community of men who have sex with men, this is wrong and it is scandalous.”
After the Covid pandemic, viruses that the world thought it had left behind reappear
This is what is known regarding the new monkeypox outbreak so far:
1. The disease it has already affected more than 16,836 people in 74 countriesaccording to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of July 22.
2. UK records first case of new monkeypox outbreak on May 7, with a patient who had recently traveled to Nigeria, where the disease is endemic. The disease had not been recorded outside the African continent since early 2003, when some cases were found in the United States.
3. According to a study by New England Journal of Medicine conducted on 528 people in 16 countries – the largest to date – 95% of cases were infected through sexual intercourse.
4. Monkeypox is considered an endemic disease in 11 West and Central African countries and is caused by a virus that transmitted to humans from infected animals, usually rodents.
5. The “simian orthopoxvirus” virus was first discovered in 1958 in a group of macaques that were being studied, hence its name, according to Inserm, a leading French medical research institute.
6. The disease was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex Zaire), in a 9-year-old boy living in a region where smallpox had been eradicated since 1968. Since 1970, human cases of “simian orthopoxvirus” have been reported in 10 African countries.
Monkeypox: what it is, main symptoms and how this rare disease is spread
7. It belongs to the same family as smallpox, which killed millions of people each year before being eradicated in 1980. But monkeypox is much less serious and has a mortality rate of between 3 to 6%, depending on the cases. Most infected people recover in 3 to 4 weeks.
8. The first symptoms include fever, headache, and muscle aches in the back. Then they appear skin eruptions, lesions, pustules and finally scabs.
9. Monkeypox usually clears up on its own and symptoms last between 14 and 21 days.
Argentina already records 13 cases of monkeypox, 12 of them imported
10. The Monkeypox can kill up to 10 percent of the people it infects.. The milder strain causing the current outbreak kills one in 100, similar to when Covid-19 first appeared. The death rate from the virus was highest among children in previous outbreaks.
11. The virus can be contracted during a sexual act but it is not a sexually transmitted disease. Transmission requires close and prolonged contact between two people and takes place mainly through saliva or pus from skin lesions arising during infection. The WHO warned that there is a “high risk” of further spread of the virus through skin-to-skin contact between families and sexual partners.
12. There are not many treatment possibilities, but there are some antivirals developed once morest smallpox, including one that was recently approved by the European Medicines Agency. It was also found that the Vaccines developed for smallpox are 85% effective to prevent monkeypox.
Monkeypox cases quintupled in one week in Europe
13. The WHO estimates that the current outbreak of monkeypox, although very worrying, does not yet constitute “a public health emergency of international scope”, the highest degree of alertness in the organization.
14. Experts warn that if monkeypox infections continue to grow, vulnerable people and children, who are most likely to die from the virus, might start contracting it.
15. There is growing concern among scientists that the virus will spread to wild animals and become endemic throughout the world, as is the case in parts of West and Central Africa. The passage between humans and animals would also increase the risk of mutation.
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