AA / Paris / Ümit Dönmez
Some 780 cases of monkey pox (monkeypox) have been reported by 27 non-endemic countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Sunday.
In a press release, the world health authority indicated that this figure is probably underestimated due to limited epidemiological information and case detection methods in force in these 27 countries.
“It is very likely that other countries will identify cases and there will be further spread of the virus,” the WHO noted, reporting a small number of hospitalizations.
The UN agency reported that the non-endemic countries with the most confirmed cases are the United Kingdom (207), Spain (156), Portugal (138), Canada (58) and Germany (57). ).
According to figures made public on Friday by the French health authorities, France had 51 “confirmed” cases of infection with the monkeypox virus, more than half of which were recorded in Île-de-France.
The WHO specifies that outside Europe and North America, and among non-endemic countries, cases of “monkepox” have also been reported in Argentina, Australia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. (one in each of these countries).
According to the world health authority, no deaths have been recorded in non-endemic countries.
In endemic countries, i.e., Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, and in Ghana, a total of 66 deaths have been recorded in the top 7 countries, in the first five months of 2022.
“While the current risk to human health and to the general public remains low, the public health risk could become high if this virus exploits the opportunity to establish itself in non-endemic countries as a human pathogen. widespread,” said the WHO, which has revised its assessment of the disease.
The agency “assesses the risk globally as moderate given that this is the first time that many cases and clusters of cases of monkeypox have been reported simultaneously in non-endemic and endemic countries,” it said. note.
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