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WHO Considers Global Health Emergency Status for Monkeypox. PHOTO/Reuters
The second meeting of the WHO Emergency Committee on the virus will be held to examine evidence about the deteriorating situation, with nearly 14,000 cases reported from more than 70 countries.
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A spike in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside West and Central African countries, where the disease has long been endemic.
On June 23, WHO formed an emergency expert committee to decide whether monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – the UN Health Agency’s highest alert level.
But the majority told WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the situation, at the time, had not met the threshold. Now a second meeting will be held, with the number of cases rising and spreading to six more countries in the past week.
If the committee notifies Tedros that the outbreak is a PHEIC, he will propose interim recommendations on how to better prevent and reduce the spread of the disease and manage the global public health response.
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“Ninety-eight percent of reported cases are among men who have sex with men, and especially those who have had multiple anonymous or recent partners,” said Rosamund Lewis, WHO Technical Lead for Monkeypox.
According to WHO, patients are usually young and especially in urban areas. The committee will look at the latest trends and data, how effective preventive measures are and make recommendations for what countries and communities should do to tackle the outbreak.
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