It’s not really a “tidal wave” but the WHO is on alert. A total of 780 laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported from 27 non-endemic countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Sunday, repeating that the global risk is moderate. A figure undoubtedly underestimated due to limited epidemiological information, and “it is very likely that other countries will identify cases and that there will be a further spread of the virus”, added the WHO. Meanwhile few hospitalizations have been reported, apart from patient isolation.
The non-endemic countries reporting the most cases are Britain (207), Spain (156), Portugal (138), Canada (58) and Germany (57). Outside Europe and North America, cases have also been reported – just one each – in Argentina, Australia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
“While the current risk to human health and to the general public remains low, the public health risk could become high if this virus exploits the opportunity to establish itself in non-endemic countries as a human pathogen. widespread,” the UN agency said in an update of its assessment of the disease.
“WHO assesses the risk globally as moderate given that this is the first time that many cases and clusters of cases of monkeypox have been reported simultaneously from non-endemic and endemic countries,” she said. added.
According to the WHO, no deaths have been reported in non-endemic countries, unlike endemic countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, as well as Ghana, where the disease has been identified in animals only. In the first seven of these countries, 66 deaths were reported in the first five months of 2022.
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