Monkeypox has spread to more than 20 countries, but the outbreaks are containable, WHO says

RT: Maria Van Kerkhove, Head a.i. Emerging Diseases and Zoonosis at the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, January 29, 2020.

The monkeypox virus has spread to more than 20 countries, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

More than 100 suspected and confirmed cases of monkeypox have been detected outside of countries where the disease usually circulates, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead. She said that the recent spread is containable and that more cases will likely be reported.

We expect more cases to be found. The global health agency's social media platforms are a containable situation, according to Van Kerkhove. It will be difficult, but it is a manageable situation in the non-endemic countries.

In recent weeks, the Monkeypox has spread to North America and Europe, which has led to an outbreak in countries outside of Central and West Africa. Most patients recover in a few weeks because of a milder West African strain of the virus. There have been no deaths reported so far.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 118 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed by the European Union. Spain and Portugal have reported the most cases in the EU. According to the U.K. Health Security Agency, 90 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the United Kingdom.

Nine cases of monkeypox have been identified in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 16 cases of monkeypox confirmed by Canadian health officials.

Some patients in the U.S. haven't traveled to countries with active epidemics, suggesting that the virus is spreading domestically, according to the director of the CDC. The CDC is trying to break chains of transmission in the U.S.

The majority of the patients are gay or bisexual men, according to health officials in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. The officials said that monkeypox can be spread through close physical contact regardless of sexual orientation. It is important to raise awareness about who is at an elevated risk, without stigmatizing anyone.

Monkeypox isn't a sexually transmitted disease. Any kind of sustained skin-to-skin contact with a person who has a disease can spread the virus. If a person has a mouth injury, it can be spread through body fluids, contaminated bedsheets and clothing, or respiratory droplets.

The symptoms of the flu are similar to the virus and include a high temperature, fatigue, headaches, and swelling of the scuplture. It progresses to body rash characterized by raised bumps that turn into blisters which eventually dry out and fall off.

Van Kerhkove urged health-care professionals to consider monkeypox a diagnosis for patients with rash illnesses that present at sexual health clinics, emergency departments, infectious disease clinics, primary-care physicians and dermatologists.

It doesn't mean that anyone with a rash won't get monkeypox, but we need to raise awareness about what it is and how to prevent it.