WHO stated transmission was taking place through “close physical contact: skin-to-skin contact”,

Geneva, Switzerland:

The monkeypox outbreaks in non-endemic international locations may be contained and human-to-human transmission of the virus stopped, the World Health Organization stated Monday.

Fewer than 200 confirmed and suspected instances had been recorded to date, the WHO’s rising illness lead Maria Van Kerkhove stated.

“This is a containable situation, particularly in the countries where we are seeing these outbreaks that are happening across Europe, in North America as well,” Van Kerkhove advised a reside interplay on the UN well being company’s social media channels.

“We want to stop human-to-human transmission. We can do this in the non-endemic countries.

“We’re in a state of affairs the place we will use public well being instruments of early identification, supported isolation of instances.

“We can stop human-to-human transmission.”

Van Kerkhove stated transmission was taking place through “close physical contact: skin-to-skin contact”, and that most people recognized to date had not had a extreme case of the illness.

Rosamund Lewis, who heads the smallpox secretariat on the WHO emergencies programme, stated monkeypox had been identified for not less than 40 years and some instances had appeared in Europe over the past 5 years in travellers from the endemic areas.

However, “this is the first time we’re seeing cases across many countries at the same time and people who have not travelled to the endemic regions in Africa”, she stated.

She cited Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“It is primarily in the animal kingdom in forested areas. Now we’re seeing it more in urban areas,” she stated.

Mutation research

Lewis stated it was not but identified whether or not the virus had mutated however viruses within the wider orthopoxvirus group “tend not to mutate and they tend to be fairly stable.

“We do not but have proof but that there’s mutation within the virus itself,” she said. Virologists will be studying the first genomic sequences of the virus coming through, she added.

Van Kerkhove said a major global meeting next week would discuss research, epidemiology, diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.

Andy Seale, strategies advisor at the WHO’s global HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections programmes, stressed that while the virus could be caught through sexual activity, it was not a sexually transmitted disease.

“While we’re seeing some instances amongst males who’ve intercourse with males, this isn’t a homosexual illness, as some individuals in social media have tried to label it. That’s simply not the case.

“This demographic is generally a demographic that really does take care of health screening… They’ve been proactive about responding to unusual symptoms.

“Anybody can contract monkeypox by shut contact.”

Van Kerkhove added that as surveillance widened, specialists did anticipate to see extra instances.

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