The World Health Organization (WHO) has again announced the highest level of alert for the spread of the mpox virus (formerly monkeypox) in Africa. The WHO Emergency Committee considers the new mpox outbreak a “health crisis of international concern,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday, August 14.
According to him, in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, where the spread of mpox has not been recorded before, 90 cases of infection have been identified with the 1b version of the virus, which is characterized by a more severe course of the disease. and leading to more deaths than the previous version. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, more than 14 thousand people are already infected, 524 people have died, more are reported.
A total of 17 thousand cases of mpox infections were reported in 13 African countries this year, which is 160 percent more than in the same period in 2023, writes Reuters.
Transmission of the virus and symptoms of the disease
It is possible to transmit the virus from person to person through close contact, especially during sex. The main symptoms of the disease are high fever, rash, inflamed lymph nodes, muscle pain, and weakness. As a rule, the human body deals with the virus in two to four weeks, but in rare cases, death is possible.
In the summer of 2022, WHO already declared the monkey outbreak as “a health emergency of international concern.” At that time, the number of cases of infection with the 2b virus in 75 countries and regions around the world reached more than 16 thousand, and the majority of infections were identified in Europe and America, especially among same-sex men. seers. The state of emergency was lifted in May 2023.
In November 2022, the WHO changed the name of the virus to mpox (from smallpox) because of the racist language and stigma surrounding the old name. A global emergency calls for legally binding measures to contain the disease.
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2024-08-14 18:58:06
