WHO declares fast spreading monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency

The World Health Organization has activated its highest alert level for the growing monkeypox outbreak, declaring the virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

The rare designation means that the WHO now sees the outbreak as a significant enough threat to global health that a coordinated international response is needed to prevent the virus from spreading further and potentially progressing into a pandemic.

Although the declaration does not impose requirements on national governments, it serves as an urgent call to action. WHO can only issue guidance and recommendations to its member states, not mandate it. Member states are required to report incidents that pose a threat to global health.

United Nations Agency Refused to declare a global emergency last month In response to monkeypox. But infections have increased significantly over the past several weeks, prompting it to issue the highest alert.

So far this year, more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 75 countries and there has been a 77% increase in the number of confirmed infections from late June to early July, according to WHO data. Men who have sex with men are at the highest risk of infection at this time.

This year five people have died due to this virus in Africa. No deaths have been reported outside Africa so far.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people recover from monkeypox in two to four weeks. The virus causes a rash that can spread throughout the body. People who have caught the virus have said that the rash, which looks like pimples or blisters, Can be very painful.

The current monkeypox outbreak is highly unusual because it is widespread in North American and European countries where the virus is not commonly found. Historically, monkeypox has spread at low levels in remote parts of West and Central Africa where rodents and other animals have carried the virus.

Europe is currently the global epicenter of the outbreak, reporting more than 80% of confirmed infections worldwide in 2022. The US has reported more than 2,000 cases in 43 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico.

In early May, the United Kingdom reported a case of monkeypox in a man who had recently returned from a trip to Nigeria. Several days later, the UK reported three more cases of monkeypox among people who had been infected locally. Other European countries, Canada and the US, also began confirming cases. It is unclear where the outbreak actually began.

WHO last released In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, a global health emergency in January 2020 and two months later declared it a pandemic, The WHO has no official procedure for declaring a pandemic under its organizational laws, which means the term is loosely defined. In 2020, the agency declared COVID a pandemic in an effort to warn complacent governments about the “alarming level of spread and severity” of the virus.

The WHO’s chief expert on monkeypox, Dr. Rosamund Lewis, told reporters in May that the United Nations health agency Not worried about monkeypox due to a global pandemic, She said public health officials had a window of opportunity to contain the outbreak.

But infectious disease experts are concerned that health officials have failed to contain the outbreak, and monkeypox will take permanent root in countries where the virus had not previously been detected, with the exception of isolated cases involving travel.

scientist in Spain And Italy Monkeypox virus DNA has been detected in the semen of positive patients, although it is still unclear whether the virus can be transmitted through semen during sex. Spanish scientists also detected monkeypox DNA saliva samples,

It is also not clear whether people can spread the virus when they are infected but do not have symptoms, which is known as asymptomatic transmission.

Individuals who decide to have sex with a partner with monkeypox should Follow CDC Guidance on Reducing Your RiskAccording to the health agency.

In the past, monkeypox typically started with flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, tiredness, and swollen lymph nodes. The disease then turned into a rash that could spread throughout the body. Patients are considered most contagious when the rash develops.

But symptoms have been unusual in the current outbreak. Some people are getting a rash at first, while others are showing a rash without any flu-like symptoms. Many patients develop a localized rash on their genitals and anus.

The CDC and WHO have said that the rash is easily Confused with Common Sexually Transmitted Diseases, He has told health care providers that they should not rule out monkeypox simply because a patient tests positive for a sexually transmitted disease.

Although monkeypox can be spread through respiratory droplets, that method requires prolonged face-to-face interactions, according to the CDC. Health officials believe that monkeypox is spread through small aerosol particles like Covid. Respiratory droplets are heavy, so they don’t stay in the air for long, whereas covid is an airborne virus, which is one of the reasons it is so contagious.

Monkeypox can also be spread through contact with contaminants, such as sheets and clothing.

“This disease is transmitted, but it is not transmitted. It is a disease in which transmission can be contained,” Ryan said. “As we said in Kovid, don’t be the person who spreads this disease.”

Since monkeypox is not a new virus, vaccines and antivirals already exist to prevent and treat the disease it causes, although they are in short supply. America is Already dispensing thousands of doses of a vaccine called Jynneos in an effort to end the outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration approved a two-dose vaccine in 2019 for adults age 18 and older who are at high risk of contracting monkeypox or smallpox.

The Biden administration has distributed more than 300,000 GenoS doses to states and cities since May and another 786,000 doses are being distributed to the US Department of Health and Human Services, with 5 million doses ordered by 2023.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Valensky said demand for monkeypox vaccines exceeds available supplies in the US, leading to long lines in places like New York City – an epicenter of the outbreak.

Produced by Jynneos Bavarian Nordic, a biotech company based in Denmark. Right now, Bavarian Nordic has up to 5 million doses available for the rest of the world except the US, a company spokesperson said. But Bavarian Nordic has the capacity to fill 40 million liquid frozen and 8 million freeze dried doses annually, the spokesman said.

The US has more than 100 million doses of an older generation smallpox vaccine called ACAM2000, made by Emerging Bio Solutions, it is also likely to be effective in preventing monkeypox. But ACAM2000 can have serious side effects and is not recommended for people who have a weakened immune system, including HIV patients, people with certain skin conditions, and pregnant women.

ACAM2000 uses a mild virus strain in the same family as monkeypox and smallpox to confer immunity. But the mild strain used by the vaccine can cause a repeat, which means people receiving ACAM 2000 need to take precautions to make sure they don’t pass the virus to others or the rash from the injection site to other parts of their body. Do not spread The Jynneos vaccine does not have this risk because it does not use a replicating virus strain.

According to the CDC, there is no data yet on the effectiveness of vaccines against monkeypox in the current outbreak.

WHO is not recommending mass vaccination at this time, and the US is currently reserving vaccines in its stockpile People who have confirmed or estimated risk of monkeypox, Unlike COVID, vaccines against smallpox and monkeypox can be administered after exposure due to the virus’s long incubation period. But according to the CDC, vaccines need to be administered within four days of exposure for the best chance of preventing disease onset.