The WHO said on Wednesday that hundreds of cases of smallpox had appeared beyond the African countries where the disease is commonly found, warning that the virus had probably spread under the radar.
“Investigations are ongoing, but the sudden appearance of monkeypox in many countries at the same time suggests that there may be undetected transmission for some time,” the head of the World Health Organization told reporters. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Since Britain first reported a confirmed case of monkeypox on May 7, more than 550 confirmed cases of the disease have been reported in 30 countries outside the West and Central African nations where it is endemic, the WHO said.
Rosamund Lewis, the UN’s chief health expert on smallpox, said that the appearance of so many cases in much of Europe and other countries where it had not been seen before “is clearly a cause for concern and suggests undetected transmission for a while “.
“We don’t know if it’s weeks, months or possibly a couple of years,” he said, adding that “we don’t really know if it’s too late to contain.”
Smallpox is related to smallpox, which kills millions of people worldwide each year before being eradicated in 1980.
Fighting stigma
But chickenpox, which spreads through close contact, is much less severe, with symptoms that usually include high fever and a chickenpox-like blistering rash that goes away after a few weeks.
So far, most cases have been reported among men who have sex with men, although experts point out that there is no evidence that the monkey’s smallpox is sexually transmitted.
“Anyone can get infected with the monkey’s smallpox if they have close physical contact with another infected person,” Tedros said.
He urged everyone to help “fight the stigma, which is not only wrong, but could also prevent infected people from seeking care, making it harder to stop transmission.”
The WHO, he said, also “urged the affected countries to expand their surveillance.”
Lewis insisted that it was vital “that we collectively work together to prevent further spread,” by tracking contacts and isolating people with the disease.
Smallpox vaccines have also been found to be approximately 85% effective in preventing smallpox, but are scarce.
The WHO does not propose mass vaccination, but a specific use in some settings to protect health workers and people most at risk of infection.
Lewis noted that cases of monkeypox had also increased in endemic countries, where thousands of people get the disease each year, with some 70 deaths from the virus reported in five African countries so far this year.
The mortality rate from monkeypox is usually quite low and no deaths have been reported among cases found so far outside endemic countries.
But Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s leader in emerging diseases, warned that while no deaths had been reported, that could change if the virus entered more vulnerable populations.
© Agence France-Presse