WHO does not believe that monkeypox will become another pandemic

The outbreak of monkey pox it is “unlikely” that it becomes a pandemic like covid-19 despite its rapid expansion in the last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

“We do not believe that this outbreak is going to lead to the start of a new pandemic because it is an already known virus, we have the tools to control it and our experience tells us that it is not as easily transmitted in humans as it is in animals,” declared WHO smallpox expert Rosamund Lewis.

Look: US authorities confirm 12 cases of monkeypox so far

At the moment, since the United Kingdom reported the first confirmed case of monkeypox on May 7, the WHO it has received notifications of a total of 257 laboratory-confirmed cases and about 120 suspects in 23 countries.

In Spain, 98 cases have been confirmed to date, according to the Ministry of Health last Friday.

Lewis warned that although the risk of it posing a serious public health problem is low, the situation is “unusual” because the virus is spreading rapidly in countries where it is not endemic (it is only endemic in central African countries). and western).

For this reason, he urged the authorities to work jointly with the WHO to implement the necessary measures to help contain the outbreak.

The expert declared that of the 257 confirmed cases none is related to travel to countries where this type of smallpox is endemic and therefore they continue to study the origin of the outbreak.

Regarding the transmission of this disease -whose main symptoms are fever, muscle pain, tiredness and small rashes on the skin-, preliminary studies indicate that the main routes of infection are close contact with wounds, body fluids and contaminated materials such as clothing or cutlery of an infected person.

To date, there is no evidence that infected lactating mothers carry the virus in their milk, although there is a high risk of infecting the baby during breastfeeding because close skin-to-skin contact is necessary, Lewis said.

He added that there is a high probability of transmitting the virus through the mouth where highly infectious ulcers are concentrated.

The recommendations of the WHO for the containment of the virus lie in the isolation of the positives, whose contagion period extends from five to 21 days, the frequent washing of hands and the disinfection of clothing and objects that may have been in contact with an infected person.

Source: Elcomercio

Deshawn