THURSDAY, Aug. 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The number of monkeypox cases worldwide dropped 21 percent in the past week, the World Health Organization announced Thursday. This significant decline may indicate that the outbreak in Europe is finally waning, the WHO report suggested.
The WHO reported nearly 6,000 new cases a week, with Iran and Indonesia reporting their first cases. More than 45,000 cases have been reported in 98 countries since the end of April, according to the Associated Press. According to the WHO, the Americas accounted for 60 percent of cases in the past month, with cases in Europe accounting for only about 38 percent of the total. Infections in the Americas showed “a steady increase,” the WHO said.
While UK health authorities recently said a drop in new cases in that country may be an early sign that the monkeypox outbreak was beginning to subside, the United States has now reported more than 16,600 cases of smallpox since monkey Meanwhile, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that the continent had 219 new cases last week, a jump of 54 percent. Most were in Nigeria and Congo, the AP said.
Monkey pox has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades, and experts believe outbreaks in Europe and North America occurred after the disease spread through sex in two radishes in Spain and Belgium. inform the AP. The latest WHO report said 98 percent of cases are in men, and of those who reported sexual orientation, 96 percent are gay or bisexual men.
Monkeypox usually requires skin-to-skin or skin-to-mouth contact with the lesions of an infected patient to spread. People can also become infected through contact with the clothing or bedding of someone who has chickenpox lesions.
A vaccine against monkeypox exists, but it is scarce. Vaccines are being rationed and reserved for those most at risk, including gay and bisexual men with multiple sex partners, and for health care workers, laboratory staff and those responsible for outbreaks, the AP.
Associated press article