As cases of monkeypox continue to increase outside endemic areas of Africa, particularly in Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Monday an “atypical” situation, but deemed it possible to “stop” this transmission of the disease between humans.
A hundred cases have been confirmed in a dozen European countries, but also in Australia, Canada and the United States. Eight countries of the European Union (France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Sweden) currently have 85 cases, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The WHO, however, expressed confidence in the possibility of curbing the transmission of the disease between humans in these “non-endemic” countries, during a question and answer session on Monday. Early identification and isolation of cases are part of the measures recommended by both the WHO and the ECDC, she stressed.
It’s not a gay disease, as some people on social media have tried to label it
The disease, a less dangerous cousin of smallpox, eradicated for about forty years, is endemic in 11 West African countries and in Central Africa. It first results in a high fever and quickly evolves into a rash, with the formation of scabs.
What worries experts is the simultaneous appearance of cases in many countries, in people who had little or no direct connection to the countries where the disease is endemic.
For the general population, the probability of contagion is “very low”, judged the ECDC in its first risk assessment since the unusual appearance of dozens of cases in the West.
“However, the likelihood of virus transmission through close contact, such as during sex with people with multiple partners, is considered high,” the agency noted in its report. Human-to-human transmission is also possible through direct contact with skin lesions or mucous membranes of a sick person, as well as through droplets.
Although this virus can be transmitted during sexual activity, it is not a sexually transmitted disease, underlined Andy Seale, adviser in strategies for the WHO global programs on HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections.
“Nor is it a gay disease, as some people on social media have tried to label it,” the expert stressed.
A big global meeting with all the experts from many branches is to be held next week to discuss the current episode.