London: There have now been more than 1000 monkeypox cases reported to the World Health Organisation in the current outbreak outside the countries in Africa where it more commonly spreads.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the risk of monkeypox becoming established in these non-endemic countries was real but preventable at this point.
Monkeypox samples rest in a fridge at the microbiology laboratory of La Paz Hospital in Madrid, Spain, on June 6.Credit:Getty Images
Twenty-nine countries mostly in Europe have reported more than 1000 cases in the current outbreak, which began in May. None have reported deaths.
At a media briefing in Geneva, Tedros also said there had been more than 1400 suspected cases of monkeypox this year in Africa and 66 deaths.
“It’s an unfortunate reflection of the world we live in that the international community is only now paying attention to monkeypox because it has appeared in high-income countries,” he said.
He said the outbreak was showing signs of community transmission in some countries. WHO recommends people with monkeypox isolate at home.
The right arm and torso of a patient, whose skin displayed a number of lesions due to what had been an active case of monkeypox.Credit:CDC/AP/File
Monkeypox doesn’t usually spread easily between people. Contact with the virus from an animal, human or contaminated object is the main pathway, Bloomberg reports.
The virus enters the body through broken skin, the respiratory tract or the mucous membranes in the eyes, nose or mouth. Transmission from one person to another is thought to occur through respiratory particles during direct and prolonged face-to-face contact. But it can also happen through contact with body fluids or lesion material, or indirectly through contact with contaminated clothing or linens. Common household disinfectants can kill it.
Rosamund Lewis, WHO technical lead on monkeypox, said that “interpersonal close contact” was the main way monkeypox spreads, although she added that the risk of aerosol transmission was not yet fully known. Health workers caring for monkeypox patients should wear a mask, she said.
Cases are still predominantly among men who have sex with men, the WHO added, although cases in women have been reported.
Analysis of the genetic sequence of the virus collected from some patients in Europe indicated the strain spreading had a single origin. It is most closely related to viruses found in cases exported from Nigeria to the UK, Israel and Singapore in recent years.
The UN agency is working with organisations including UN AIDS and community groups to raise awareness and stop transmission.
Post-exposure vaccination, including for health workers or close contacts, including sexual partners – ideally within four days of exposure – may be considered for some countries, WHO added. The vaccines being used are designed against smallpox, a related, more dangerous virus that the world eradicated in 1980, but also work to protect against monkeypox, studies have shown.
WHO senior official Sylvie Briand said the agency was assessing the potency of vaccines stockpiled against smallpox and contacting manufacturers and countries who have previously pledged vaccines.
Reuters, Bloomberg
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