The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that there is a real risk that monkeypox will gain a foothold in Europe and urged governments to take action to curb transmission.
The World Health Organization warned that monkeypox could get a foothold in Europe.
The WHO's European director Dr. Hans Kluge said that Europe is at the center of an epidemic with 25 countries reporting more than 1,500 cases.
There is a real risk that the disease will gain a foothold in Europe and other countries that don't normally see monkeypox.
Kluge warned that the stronger the virus was allowed to spread, the stronger it would be.
Kluge said that canceling large events like music festivals and Pride this summer is a good way to raise awareness.
While the majority of cases in Europe have been among men who have sex with men, Kluge stressed that the virus is not attached to any specific group and should not be stigmatized.
Steve Taylor, Director of the European Pride Organizers Association, praised the WHO's efforts to ground responses in evidence and not stigma and said the some 750 Pride events planned across Europe this summer marks a good opportunity to give people the information needed to protect themselves and their families.
In parts of Western and Central Africa, monkeypox is a common disease. Scientists and public health officials were alarmed by its discovery in Europe and North America. Though it can be fatal, the disease is usually mild and resolves in a matter of weeks. The World Health Organization said more than 1,600 cases have been confirmed and another 1,500 cases are suspected. There have been no deaths reported in new countries, though the WHO is trying to verify reports of a death in Brazil. There have been at least 72 deaths from the disease. The spread of the disease among men who have sex with men in Europe has sparked a flurry of racist and homophobic reporting and the WHO is now pushing for the virus and disease to be renamed to "minimize the negative impact."
The WHO response is getting more aggressive. An emergency meeting will be held next week by the WHO to decide if the monkeypox outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The WHO didn't want to wait until the situation was out of control when they announced the meeting on Tuesday. The nations have a legal duty to respond to the outbreak. Since being introduced into international law in 2007, there have been six public health emergencies. The longest runningPHEIC is by Polio. It was declared aPHEIC in the year 2014).
Kluge criticized the "me first" approach many wealthier countries take when it comes to health, as has happened with the Covid outbreak in the past. He said that monkeypox has been endemic in parts of western and central Africa for decades and that it has been neglected by the rest of the world. He warned that such an approach could lead to damaging consequences down the road, and urged governments to keep equity at the heart of all they do.
Over 100,000. The EU secured a number of doses of the vaccine. It isn't approved for use against monkeypox in Europe, but it is approved for use against the same virus in Canada and the U.S. Treatments and vaccines for smallpox and monkeypox are similar. Up-to-date data on the use of vaccines and drugs is hard to come by. Only two samples remain in secure national laboratories in Russia and the U.S. and most data comes from either old clinical studies or those involving animals.
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