- The Sun
VIVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that more cases of monkeypox will emerge globally. As of Saturday, May 21, 2022, the WHO reported that 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox were reported from 12 member states that are not endemic for the virus.
Also, WHO will provide further guidance in the coming days to countries around the world on how to reduce the spread of monkeypox. The health organization hopes to identify more cases of monkeypox and expand surveillance in countries where the disease is not normally found.
"According to available information, human-to-human transmission occurs among people who have close physical contact with symptomatic cases," the WHO said.
Monkeypox is an infectious disease that is usually mild and is endemic in parts of West and Central Africa. Although it belongs to the same virus family as smallpox, its symptoms are milder.
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People usually recover within two to four weeks without needing to be hospitalized, but the disease is occasionally deadly. The monkeypox spreads by close contact so it can be relatively easily contained through such measures as self-isolation and hygiene.
“What seems to be happening now is that it has got into the population as a sexual form, as a genital form, and is being spread as are sexually transmitted infections, which has amplified its transmission around the world,” said WHO official David Heymann as an infectious disease specialist.
Heyman conveyed that an international committee of experts had held an important meeting to discuss what was to be learned about the outbreak of the disease, including whether there is asymptomatic spread, people at risk, and modes of transmission.
The meeting was held because of the 'urgency of the situation'. However, the committee is not the group that would suggest declaring a public health emergency of international concern, the WHO's highest form of vigilance, as it applies to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heyman added, close contact is the main transmission route. For example, parents or staff caring for sick children are at risk of contracting it. That is why, several countries have started to inoculate the nurses of monkeypox patients with the smallpox vaccine for the related virus.
