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Rosamund Lewis, WHO’s technical director on monkeypox, said “close interpersonal contact” was the main way to spread monkeypox, but added that the risk of transmission was not yet fully understood. of aerosols. Healthcare workers treating patients with smallpox should wear a mask, he said.
Cases are still predominantly among men who have sex with men, the WHO added, although cases have been reported in women.
Analysis of the genetic sequence of the virus collected from some patients in Europe indicated that the spread of the strain had a single origin. It is most closely related to viruses found in cases exported from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, Israel and Singapore in recent years.
The United Nations agency is working with organizations such as the UN AIDS and community groups to raise awareness and stop the transmission.
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Post-exposure vaccination, including for health workers or close contacts, including sexual partners, ideally within four days of exposure, may be considered in some countries, the WHO added. The vaccines used are designed against smallpox, a related and most dangerous virus that the world eradicated in 1980, but they also work to protect against smallpox, studies have shown.
WHO senior official Sylvie Briand said the agency was evaluating the potency of stored smallpox vaccines and was contacting manufacturers and countries that had previously committed to vaccines.
Reuters, Bloomberg