The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that the global outbreak of monkeys is a health threat, the evolution of which is very worrying, before reaching the stage of the global health emergency.
«At the moment, the event is not a public health emergency of international concern, which is the highest level of vigilance by the WHO.“The Director General of this UN agency, Tedros Adhanom Gebreius, said in a statement issued after the meeting of experts on the issue: There has been an increase in cases of chickenpox since early May, far from Central West Africa, where the disease has long been endemic. More than 3,200 confirmed և deaths were reported to the WHO from around 50 countries where the disease is not endemic this year. «In addition, since the beginning of 2022, there have been about 1,500 suspected cases and about 70 deaths in Central Africa, mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic (Cameroon).“Tedros Adhanom Gebreiusus said on Thursday.
“Deep Concerns”
«The Committee on Emergency Situations has expressed deep concern over the scale and speed of the current outbreak.Mentioning many unknowns about the event, Tedros Adhanom Gebreiusus said in a statement issued after studying the experts’ report, which presents their consensus position. «Overall, they suggested to me in the report that the measure at the moment is not the International Public Health Emergency (USPPI), which is the highest level of vigilance in the WHO, but they agreed that the convening of the commission itself reflects: growing concerns about the international distribution of monkeys“, according to the text.
Tedros Adhanom Gebreius Tedros announced on June 14 that it was convening an emergency commission to assess whether the current outbreak was a USPPI. The last USPPI was announced in 2020 due to the Covid-19 epidemic. It has been known to humans since 1970, monkey chickenpox or “simian orthopox virusis a rare disease.
It initially causes high fever և quickly turns into a rash, scales appear. Most often benign, it usually resolves spontaneously after two to three weeks. It is usually caused by a virus transmitted from infected animals to humans. But in the current outbreak, human-to-human transmission is at the forefront. The majority of reported cases so far involve men who have sex with men. If it is not a sexually transmitted infection, transmission can occur through close contact, such as sexual intercourse.
Source: Le Figaro
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