The World Health Organization today issued the highest level of alert in an attempt to bring the monkeypox outbreak under control, which has affected nearly 17,000 people in 74 countries so far.
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Photo archives, AFP
In this photo, a healthcare worker prepares to administer a monkeypox vaccine to a patient in Wilton Manors, Florida on July 12.
“It was relieving to hear that. All countries will need to have an internal action plan and a spirit of collaboration to accelerate vaccines and therapeutics,” said Dr.r Donald Vinh, microbiologist-infectiologist at the McGill University Health Center.
Today the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern over the monkeypox outbreak.
The qualification of “public health emergency of international concern” is used in “serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected” situations.
At a press conference, WHO Director General Dr.r Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, clarified that the risk in the world was relatively moderate, except in Europe, where it is high.
In most cases, the patients are men who have sex with men, relatively young and living mainly in towns.
The battle against this virus could eventually be won, as the primarily affected group tend to report, diagnose and help each other, believes Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s leading expert on monkeypox.
Around the world
Since being detected outside African countries, where it is endemic, the disease has struck 16,836 people in 74 countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Quebec, 331 cases have been listed, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
“Public Health reacted very early. […] But despite our efforts, there is community transmission. We are unable to trace, isolate, identify each person exposed because there are anonymous relationships, ”laments the Dr Vinh.
People affected
A study published Thursday in the journal New England Journal of Medicine confirms that in 95% of recent cases, the disease was transmitted through sexual contact and that 98% of those affected were gay or bisexual men.
However, we must be careful about the stigmatization of the sick, said the Dr Tedros. “These measures must protect the health, human rights and dignity of the affected community,” he said.
The discriminatory treatment and hostility inflicted on patients infected with the AIDS virus are on the minds of all affected groups and WHO leaders alike.
– With AFP
A rare alert level
The WHO has used this alert only 7 times:
JULY 23, 2022
- Monkey pox: 16,836 cases confirmed in 74 countries
JANUARY 30, 2020
- COVID-19 virus: 7794 cases confirmed and 170 deadalmost all of which in China
JULY 17, 2019
- Ebola virus: 2522 caseswhose 1698 deadin the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1er FEBRUARY 2016
- Zika virus : 39 cases confirmed and 500 cases suspects in Brazil and French Polynesia
AUGUST 8, 2014
- Ebola virus: More 1000 cases confirmed and 932 dead in west Africa
MAY 5, 2014
- Poliomyelitis virus: 74 cases in Afghanistan, Israel, Syria, Pakistan and African countries
APRIL 25, 2009
- H1N1 flu: 42 cases confirmed, including 3 deadMexico and the United States
♦ Number of cases and deaths reported on the dates indicated
Source: AFP