(Geneva) Faced with the outbreak of simian pox, the director general of the WHO must announce on Saturday whether he has chosen to trigger – or not – the highest level of alert of the organization.
Posted at 10:13 p.m.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will give a virtual press conference on Saturday at 1 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. Montreal time), the UN organization announced Friday evening.
The statement said nothing about the nature of the announcement of the Dr Tedros as the outbreak of monkeypox cases now affects more than 15,800 people in 72 countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dashboard as of July 20.
Again on Thursday, during a long meeting of the Committee of Experts who are to guide it in its decision and its recommendations, Dr.r Tedros said he “remains worried” about the spread of the disease, even though the rate of spread has slowed in some places.
It is the head of the WHO who is responsible for possibly declaring a public health emergency of international concern, the highest level of alert of the health agency, supposed to trigger a whole series of actions of member countries.
At a first meeting on June 23, the majority of experts had recommended to Dr Tedros not to pronounce a public health emergency of international concern (USPPI).
“Monkey pox is out of control, there is no legal, scientific or health reason not to declare a public health emergency of international concern,” Lawrence Gostin, an American professor of public health law, tweeted on Friday evening. and Director of the WHO Center for Health Law.
Inform and raise awareness
Detected in early May, the unusual upsurge in cases of this disease outside the countries of central and western Africa, where the virus is endemic, has since spread throughout the world, with Europe as its epicenter.
First detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.
In most cases, the patients are men who have sex with men, relatively young, and living mainly in cities, according to the WHO.
A study published Thursday in the scientific journal New England Journal of Medicinethe largest on the subject and based on data from 16 different countries, confirms that the vast majority – 95% – of recent cases were transmitted during sexual contact and that 98% of those affected were gay men or bisexual.
“This mode of transmission represents both an opportunity to implement targeted public health interventions, and a challenge, because in some countries, affected communities face discrimination that threatens their lives,” said Dr.r Tedros.
“There is a real concern that men who have sex with men could be stigmatized or blamed for the spike in cases, making it much harder to trace and stop,” he warned.
If the reason for not declaring a public health emergency of international concern (USPPI) “is because it is restricted to the community of men who have sex with men, it is a mistake and it is outrageous tweeted Professor Gostin.
Vaccinate
On Friday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it had approved the use of a human smallpox vaccine to expand its use against the spread of monkeypox. This vaccine is in fact already used for this purpose in several countries, including France.
The Imvanex vaccine, from the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, has been approved in the European Union since 2013 for the prevention of smallpox.
The WHO recommends vaccinating those most at risk, as well as health care workers, who are more at risk of being confronted with the disease.
In New York, thousands of people have already been vaccinated with the Jynneos vaccine.