The monkey’s smallpox may be spreading to dozens of nations, but it still doesn’t qualify as a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said Saturday.
However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said smallpox in monkeys was evolving rapidly and advised governments around the world to increase their surveillance, contact tracing and testing, CNBC reported . He also urged world leaders to ensure that people at high risk have access to vaccines and antiviral treatments.
The WHO has said that mass vaccination is not recommended at this time to stop the monkey’s smallpox. The United States offers vaccines to people who have a high risk of exposure to the virus and have sent doses to New York amid an increase in cases.
A total of 87 people tested positive in New York as of Friday, according to the city’s Department of Health, compared to 78 people on Thursday.
The WHO met urgently to determine the level of threat of monkeypox. At least 3,000 cases of smallpox have been identified in more than 50 countries since early May, according to WHO data.
Since early May, at least 3,000 cases of monkeypox have been identified in more than 50 countries. Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advised governments around the world to increase their surveillance, contact tracking and testing.Johanna Geron / Pool via AP
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. has reported 460 confirmed or suspected cases of smallpox in 32 states and Washington DC.
At stake was the possibility of the WHO emergency committee activating the organization’s highest alert level, similar to the one launched by COVID-19.
Tedros said the outbreak is worrisome, because it is spreading rapidly outside the remote parts of West and Central Africa where it is commonly found. In the current outbreak, 84% of cases reported worldwide are in Europe, which is rare.
The United States offers vaccines against monkeypox to people at high risk of exposure. Bill O’Leary / The Washington Post via Getty Images
“What makes the current epidemic particularly worrying is the rapid and continuous spread to new countries and regions and the risk of subsequent and sustained transmission to vulnerable populations, including immunocompromised people, pregnant women and children,” Tedros said in a communicated Saturday.
How and why monkeypox, which is usually transmitted from an infected animal to a human host, has emerged and spread across continents, remains a mystery.
Historically, most cases have come from West and Central Africa, after contact with an infected animal, especially rodents, scientists believe, but also occasionally non-human primates.
Monkeypox is spread mainly through close physical contact with an infected person or contaminated material, such as shared clothing or sheets. The virus can spread through the respiratory droplets if the sick person has sores in the throat or mouth. This requires sustained face-to-face contact, however, and it is believed that monkeypox, unlike Covid-19, does not spread through aerosol particles.
The WHO has said that mass vaccination is not recommended at this time to stop the monkey’s smallpox. Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
The outbreak of monkeys is mainly affecting gay and bisexual men who said they had sex with new or multiple partners, the WHO said.
The disease often begins with flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, body aches, chills, exhaustion, and swollen lymph nodes. Then a rash or blister appears like a pimple on the body. People are more infectious when they have the rash.
There are no specific treatments for smallpox, the CDC says, but antiviral drugs and vaccines developed to deal with smallpox can treat and prevent infections.