WHO: Monkeypox not a serious threat at the moment

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Monkeypox may be spreading across dozens of nations, but doesn’t qualify as a global health emergency yet, the World Health Organization said Saturday.

However, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said monkeypox was evolving rapidly and advised governments around the world to increase their surveillance, contact tracing and testing, CNBC reported. He also urged world leaders to ensure that people at high risk have access to vaccines and antiviral treatments.

The WHO has said mass vaccination is not recommended at this time to stop monkeypox. The US is offering vaccines to people who are at high risk of exposure to the virus and has sent doses to New York amid a spike in cases.

A total of 87 people have tested positive in New York as of Friday, according to the city Health Department, up from 78 people on Thursday.

The WHO met on an emergency basis to determine the monkeypox threat level. At least 3,000 monkeypox cases across more than 50 countries have been identified since early May, WHO data shows.

Digitally-colorized electron microscopic (EM) image depicting a monkeypox virion.
At least 3,000 monkeypox cases across more than 50 countries have been identified since early May.
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advised governments around the world to increase their surveillance, contact tracing and testing.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advised governments around the world to increase their surveillance, contact tracing and testing.
Johanna Geron/Pool via AP

The US has reported 460 confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases across 32 states and Washington DC, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At stake was the possibility the WHO emergency committee would activate the organization’s highest alert level – similar to the one set in motion by COVID-19.

Tedros said the outbreak is worrisome, because it is spreading rapidly outside remote parts of West and Central Africa where it is usually found. In the current outbreak, 84% of cases reported worldwide are in Europe, which is rare.

Vaccine vial.
The US is offering monkeypox vaccines to people who are at high risk of exposure.
Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“What makes the current outbreak especially concerning is the rapid, continuing spread into new countries and regions and the risk of further, sustained transmission into vulnerable populations including people that are immunocompromised, pregnant women and children,” Tedros said in a statement Saturday.

Exactly how and why monkeypox — which is typically passed from an infected animal to a human host — has cropped up, and spread across continents, remains a mystery.

What do you think? Post a comment.

Historically, most cases have come out of West and Central Africa, following contact with an infected animal — mostly rodents, scientists believe, but also occasionally non-human primates.

Monkeypox primarily spreads through close physical contact with a person who is infected or contaminated material such as shared clothing or bedsheets. The virus may spread through respiratory droplets if the sick person has lesions in their throat or mouth. This requires sustained face-to-face contact, however, and monkeypox, unlike Covid-19, is not believed to spread through aerosol particles.

WHO and monkeypox.
WHO has said mass vaccination is not recommended at this time to stop monkeypox.
Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The monkey outbreak is primarily affecting gay and bisexual men who said they’ve had sex with new or multiple partners, the WHO said.

The disease often begins with symptoms similar to the flu, such as fever, headache, body aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes. A pimple-like rash or blisters then appears on the body. People are most infectious when they have the rash.

There are no treatments specifically for monkeypox, the CDC says, but antiviral drugs and vaccines developed to address smallpox can treat and prevent infections.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Translation: Nobody is taking our hype serious so we’ll just tell the truth and hope to win back some credibility

  2. Monkeypox: Get the Facts
    Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus
    Monkeypox can make you sick including a rash or sores (pox), often with an earlier flu-like illness
    Monkeypox can spread to anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact including:
    Direct contact with monkeypox rash, sores, or scabs
    Contact with objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels), and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox
    Through respiratory droplets or oral fluids from a person with monkeypox
    illustration of couple snuggling in bed
    This contact can happen during intimate sexual contact including:
    Oral, anal, and vaginal sex or touching the genitals or anus of a person with monkeypox
    Hugging, massage, kissing, or talking closely
    Touching fabrics and objects during sex that were used by a person with monkeypox, such as bedding, towels and sex toys
    We know the virus can be spread in fluid or pus from monkeypox sores, and are trying to better understand if virus could be present in semen, vaginal fluids or other body fluid

  3. When will this be serious May I ask, these things seems to have its own special time and ends on a special date?

  4. Monkey see 🐵 … monkey do 🙊 … monkey pox … 🐒 💉

    GET READY FOR ANOTHER GLOBAL, 🌏
    PHARMACEUTICAL, ELITIST, AND POLITICAL LOCKSTEP MOVEMENT.

    Remember what they told us [paraphrasing here]:

    “You’ll be poor, but you’ll be happy …”

  5. Everytime I hear these clowns they make me laugh, it’s like the just sit at a table and eat fool loops.

Comments are closed.