Monkeypox outbreak could be just ‘the peak of the iceberg’, WHO warns

The World Health Organization warned that 200 monkeypox cases found in recent weeks outside countries where the virus usually circulates could be just the beginning.

We don't know if we are just seeing the peak of the epidemic or if there are many more undetected cases.

More than 200 cases of monkeypox have been reported to the UN health agency in countries far from where the disease is endemic.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control put the number of such cases at 219.

Should you be worried about monkeypox?

More than 20 other countries, including the US, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and nearly a dozen EU countries, have recently been affected by monkeypox, a disease endemic in a number of west and central African nations.

The Spanish health ministry said on Friday that 98 cases had been confirmed there so far.

The health authorities in Portugal said on Friday that 74 confirmed cases have been registered.

The first two cases of monkeypox in Latin America were confirmed by Argentina.

Briand told the members of the World Health Assembly that they were still at the beginning of the event.

The general public should not be worried about this disease. It is not diseases like Covid that spread quickly.

Monkeypox is related to a disease that was eradicated in 1980. The fatality ratio for monkeypox is less than 4%. The majority of people recover within three to four weeks.

The initial symptoms include a high temperature, swollen lysies, and rash.

The European Medicines Agency recently approved one of the antivirals developed against smallpox, but there is not much that can be done to treat the disease.

The 85% effectiveness of the vaccine for monkeypox is similar to the 85% effectiveness of the vaccine for smallpox.

Most people under the age of 45 don't receive the vaccine because of the limited supplies, and the jabs are hard to find.

Briand said experts were trying to determine what had spurred this unusual situation, but preliminary investigations did not show that the monkeypox virus had changed.

She said that there was a good chance that the spread could be stopped.