London (AP)-A leading World Health Organization consultant described the unprecedented spread of chickenpox in developed countries as a “coincidence” that could explain sexual behavior in two recent invasions in Europe.
Dr David Hayman, who previously headed the WHO Department of Emergency Situations, told The Associated Press that the main theory for the spread of the disease was sexual transmission in raves in Spain and Belgium. Monkeypox has never caused a widespread epidemic in Africa, which is endemic to animals.
“We know that monkey flowers can spread when in close contact with an infected person and it appears that intercourse has now intensified this transmission,” Hayman said.
It points to an example of a typical disease outbreak in Central and West Africa, where humans are primarily infected with animals such as wild rats and primates, and epidemics do not spread across borders.
Health officials say most known cases in Europe have been reported in men who have sex with men, but any person can be infected through close contact with a sick person, including their clothes or Underwear. Scientists say it will be difficult to determine whether the spread is caused by sexual intercourse or simply through close contact.
“By nature, sexual activity involves intimacy that increases the likelihood of transmission, regardless of a person’s sexual orientation and mode of transmission,” says Mike Skinner, a virologist at Imperial. College London.
On Monday, Andrea Amon, director of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that “there is a high probability of further spread of the virus through close contact, such as during sexual activity in between multiple sexual partners “.
So far, the WHO has recorded more than 90 cases of monkey flowering in dozens of countries, including Canada, Spain, Israel, France, Switzerland, the United States and Australia. On Monday, Denmark announced its first case, Portugal looked at a total of 37, Italy announced another infection, and Britain added another 37 cases.
Germany has four confirmed cases of “parties … where sexual activity took place” in the Spanish Canary Islands and in Berlin, according to a government report approved by PA lawmakers.
A senior health official in Madrid said on Monday that the Spanish capital had 30 confirmed cases. Enrique Ruiz Escudero said authorities were investigating the possible link between the recent Gay Pride event in the Canary Islands, which was attended by approximately 80,000 people, and the Madrid sauna incidents.
Monkey flower cases have been mild so far, with no reported deaths. The virus usually causes fever, chills, rash, and sores on the face or genitals. Most people recover within a few weeks without the need for hospitalization.
Vaccines against chickenpox, a related disease, are effective in preventing monkeypox and some antiviral drugs are being made. In recent years, this disease has been fatal in up to 6% of infections.
Hayman led an emergency meeting of the World Health Organization’s Advisory Group on the Dangers of Infectious Diseases on Friday to assess the outbreak and said there was no evidence that the monkey flower had mutated into a more contagious form.
The UN agency said the outbreak was an “extremely unusual event” and the fact that cases have been reported in so many different countries suggests that the virus could have spread quietly for some time. The European director of the agency warned that festivals and parties could speed up admission.
However, at a public hearing on Monday, World Health Organization officials described the outbreak as “containment” and warned of stigmatization by affected groups, saying the disease could infect anyone.
The agency said the cases appeared to be related to the monkey virus, which was first identified in cases exported from Nigeria to the UK, Israel and Singapore in 2018 and 2019.
Authorities in Britain, Spain and Portugal say most of the reported cases so far involve young people whose infections were reported when they sought help for injuries at sexual health clinics.
Hayman, who is also a professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the monkey outbreak was likely a random event that could be traced to an infection.
“It’s likely that someone became infected, had sores on their genitals, hands or elsewhere, and then spread it to others when there was close physical or sexual contact,” Hayman said. “And then there were the international events that led to the explosion around the world, in the United States and other European countries.”
He stressed that the disease is unlikely to cause widespread transmission.
“It’s not COVID,” he said. “We need to slow it down, but it’s not spreading in the air and we have vaccines to protect it.”
Hayman said studies should be conducted quickly to determine if monkeys can spread to humans without symptoms and populations at risk for the disease should take care to protect themselves.
Source: Huffpost
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.