The World Health Organization recommends intensifying monitoring of monkeypox. (Pablo Plathkeith Domings/Getty)
Today, Friday, the World Health Organization called for “urgent action” against the disease monkeypox In Europe, cases have tripled in the past two weeks on the continent. The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, called on European countries to “increase their efforts in the coming weeks and months to avoid the endemicity of monkeypox in a larger geographical area”, and thus ensure that it is not endemic to the European continent, where it was previously rare.
“Urgent and coordinated action must be taken if we are to make a difference in the race against the outbreak,” Kluge stressed. data was World Health Organization It reported that Europe recorded more than 4,500 confirmed cases, which is three times more than what was recorded in mid-June. This number constitutes ninety percent of the infections that were counted in the world since mid-May, when this disease began to spread in Europe after it was limited to ten African countries.
At the end of last week, a panel of experts from the World Health Organization concluded that the outbreak of monkeypox is a health threat, without requiring that a case be declared. global health emergency. But the World Health Organization in Europe considered that despite this decision, “the rapid development and emergency nature of this event mean that the committee will reconsider its position soon.”
“There is simply no room for complacency.” @hans_kluge calls on governments & civil society to scale-up efforts to prevent the spread of #monkeypox as more than 4,500 cases are confirmed across the @WHO European Region.
Read the full statement: https://t.co/AGzmTrfQ3T
— WHO/Europe (@WHO_Europe) July 1, 2022
Today, Europe is considered the epicenter of the spread of monkeypox, and it includes 31 countries or regions where cases of this disease have been recorded. According to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Britain has the largest number of cases so far (1076), ahead of Germany (838), Spain (736), Portugal (365) and France (350).
On Thursday, London’s chief medical officer for public health, Kevin Fenton, urged everyone showing symptoms of monkeypox not to take part in the “Pride Walk” to be held in the British capital this weekend. According to the World Health Organization, so far, 99 percent of infections are associated with this disease, which is transmitted through close contact, with young people between the ages of 20 and 40, most of whom are homosexuals. Klug noted that there are currently “limited numbers” of infections among contacts, including children.
The United Nations has recommended that countries intensify their surveillance of the disease, including its sequencing and ensuring the ability to diagnose and respond to it. Countries were also encouraged to reach out to affected groups and the general public. “There is simply no room for negativity,” Kluge emphasized.
On the other hand, the Danish “Bavarien Nordic” laboratories for pharmaceutical industries, the only one that manufactures an approved vaccine against monkeypox, announced the delivery of 2.5 million new doses to the United States of America, today, Friday. This is in addition to an initial request for this vaccine by the US authorities a few weeks ago, with the aim of obtaining 500,000 doses. This vaccine is marketed under the name “Genius” in the United States of America, while in Europe it is called “Amphanix”. In the same context, the European Medicines Agency announced, last Tuesday, that it had begun analyzing an anti-smallpox vaccine with the aim of expanding its use to include monkeypox.
It should be noted that so far, more than 5,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in more than 51 countries around the world, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to global data, only about 10 percent of those infected with the disease have been transferred to hospitals for treatment or isolation, so far, and one person has been placed in the intensive care unit, while no related death has been reported.
As for the African continent, the World Health Organization has recently indicated that monkeypox is spreading in countries where it was not present before, including Morocco, South Africa and Ghana. But more than 90 percent of infections on the continent are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, according to the WHO’s regional director for Africa, Moeti Machidiso.
(AFP, Associated Press)