As 1,000 cases of monkeypox are confirmed worldwide, the Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus encourages countries to increase their health surveillance measures to “identify all cases and contact cases to control this outbreak and prevent contagion”.
- The WHO warns that the risk of monkeypox taking hold in non-endemic countries is real.
- The “sudden and unexpected appearance” of the virus in these countries suggests that it had been circulating for some time already, but its transmission was going undetected, according to the WHO.
The risk is “real” but the scenario of an epidemic outside Africa, where the virus has been circulating and killing for decades, can be avoided: this is what the WHO has said about the sudden and unexpected appearance of the monkeypox in 29 countries, mainly in Europe.
Zoonosis
This zoonosis, a disease transmissible between humans and animals, is endemic in nine African countries, but outbreaks have been reported in the past month in several other states, mainly in Europe and notably in Britain, Spain and Portugal. .
Greece on Wednesday became the latest country to confirm its first case of the disease, as health authorities said it was a man who had recently traveled to Portugal and was in hospital in a state steady.
First symptoms
The first symptoms of monkeypox are high fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a blistering rash that looks like chickenpox.
While the virus has caused the death of 66 people in Africa since the beginning of the year, so far no deaths have been reported in non-endemic countries. Cases have been reported mainly, but not exclusively, in men who have sex with men, but the virus poses a risk to vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children, which is of concern to the WHO. “Some countries are now starting to report cases of apparent community transmission, including some cases in women”said Mr. Tedros.
Strengthen health surveillance
Faced with this situation, WHO will publish recommendations on clinical care, infection prevention and control, vaccination and community protection in the coming days.
In the meantime, the director general of the organization encourages countries to strengthen health surveillance and people with symptoms must isolate themselves at home and consult a health professional, while people in the same household must avoid contact narrow.
The WHO does not recommend mass vaccination against the virus but added that post-exposure vaccination, ideally within four days, could be considered for high-risk close contacts, such as sexual partners or household members. .
Sylvie Briand, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the WHO, said the smallpox vaccine could be used against the monkey virus.