The World Health Organization declared a global emergency for the second year in a row. The cause of this time is monkeypox, a disease that has spread in just a few weeks to dozens of countries.
The director general of the W.H.O. declared a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday after a panel of advisers could not agree on a course of action.
A public health emergency has been declared because of an outbreak that has spread around the world quickly through new modes of transmission.
The need for a better process to decide which events are public health emergencies is highlighted by the committee's inability to come a consensus. This is the first time that the director general has overruled his advisers.
The W.H.O.'s deliberations show that the tool needs to be more effective. He said member countries are looking at ways to improve the process.
The W.H.O. has declared a public health risk. It can lead member countries to invest significant resources in controlling an outbreak, draw more funding to the response, and encourage nations to share vaccines, treatments and other key resources for containing the outbreak.
Since 2007, there have been seven public health emergencies, the most recent being the Covid Pandemic. The W.H.O.'s criteria for declaring emergencies are criticized by some global health experts.
The W.H.O.'s advisers decided at a meeting in June that monkeypox wasn't an international emergency. The panel couldn't make a decision on Thursday.
The process was criticized by many experts.
The number of monkeypox cases outside Africa has more than doubled since the advisers met in June. Men who have sex with men are more likely to get infections than other people.
The declaration by the W.H.O. is better late than never, according to a doctor.
Monkeypox is what it is. In parts of Central and West Africa, there is a disease called monkeypox. It is not as bad as smallpox. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was discovered in the 50's.
The symptoms are what they are. People who have been bitten by the Monkeypox will have a rash that starts with red marks and grows into a large lump of flesh. Symptoms can take as long as three weeks after exposure to show and can last as long as four weeks. Vaccines and other treatments can be used to stop an outbreak.
What is it that makes it infectious? Some experts think that the virus could occasionally be airborne. It has spread in unusual ways this year and among populations that have not been at risk in the past.
What is happening in the US? The rapid spread of monkeypox across the country and the government's slow response raises questions about the nation's ability to deal with a Pandemic threat. Vaccines will be in short supply for a long time due to the unavailability of tests. The official case counts are likely to be underestimated.
The global response has continued to suffer from a lack of coordination with individual countries working at very different paces to address the problem.
The monkeypox virus can establish itself in a more permanent way if we don't stop it.
The co-director of the University of Nebraska's Global Center for Health Security said it could take a year or more to control the outbreak. Hundreds of thousands of people are likely to have been affected by the virus by that time.
It was unfortunate that we missed the chance to put a lid on the outbreak earlier. It will be difficult to contain and control the spread.
The longer the outbreak goes on the more likely it is that the virus will move from people to animals. This is a way that a disease can be spread.
As of Saturday, the United States had recorded nearly 3000 cases, including two children, but the real toll is thought to be much higher. Britain and Spain each have about the same number of cases.
The countries with the highest number of infections report no known source of infections.
At the end of June, the W.H.O. advisers said that they did not recommend an emergency declaration because the disease had not moved out of the primary risk group.
Some experts disagreed with the rationale.
"Do you want to declare the emergency when it's really bad or do you want to do it in advance?" asked Dr.
There is no problem now. She said that the virus is not seen in children or pregnant women. It will happen at some point if we don't do enough.
The second meeting of the W.H.O. committee that was convened in early 2020 to evaluate the coronaviruses outbreak decided that it was a public health emergency.
An intermediate level of alert was suggested by committee members. As incidences become more frequent, the organization may need a system like this.
Climate change and deforestation are making it easier for diseases to jump from animals to humans. An emerging virus can quickly spread to other countries.
Most public health authorities don't have the resources to deal with chronic diseases.
Tom Inglesby said the surge in monkeypox should serve as a warning to governments to prepare for future epidemics.
He said that infectious disease crises are part of a new normal that requires a lot of resources. There are approaches that don't yet exist that need to be used.
There has been a sporadic outbreak of monkeypox in Africa for decades. Experts have sounded the alarm about its potential as a global threat for a long time.
Fears of a bioterrorism attack with a close relative of the monkeypox virus have led to the availability of vaccines and drugs.
Time-Consuming bureaucracy and government control of the supply have made it difficult for patients to get access to tecovir.
Even in the United States, where the vaccine was developed, the doses of Jynneos have been severely constrained.
Almost all of the monkeypox cases in New York City were in men who have sex with men. The city ran out of vaccine in late June.
Since then, the supply has grown. The city had 17,000 first-dose appointments on Friday, but they were filled quickly.
The city's health department website says that the vaccine supply is low.
It may be more difficult to contain the virus in countries that don't have a lot of vaccine and treatments. Without the framework of a global emergency, each country has its own way to provide tests, vaccines and treatments.
A failure to coordinate the response has made it difficult to collect data in large multinational studies.
It is difficult to design interventions for controlling this historically neglected disease because of the inability to characterize the epidemiological situation in West and Central African countries.
One to two weeks after exposure to monkeypox in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a body rash can develop.
Many patients in the current outbreak have only been affected by genitals. Many people who develop sores in the throat, urethra or rectum have suffered terrible pains.
Gabriel, a part-time model based in New York City, was scared to use the bathroom. I don't know what to say about it. It feels like it has been damaged.
Many other patients have only mild symptoms and some have not had the typical symptoms of the disease.
It is possible that only the most severe cases of the disease were found in Africa. It could be that the virus has changed in some way.
The monkeypox genome seems to have collected more than the six or seven that would have been expected, according to preliminary genetic analyses.
The mode of transmission, severity, and other qualities of the virus are not known. According to early analysis, monkeypox may have been easier to spread between people than it was before.
Many of the uncertainties around the outbreak can be addressed by coordinating the response.
Sharon and Joseph were involved in the reporting.
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