The monkeypox virus spreads to humans primarily through animals.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the declaration of the emergency on Wednesday. Picture from 2023. EPA / AOP
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox virus spreading in Africa a global health emergency.
– Today the emergency committee met and informed me that it thinks the situation is a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted this advice, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference on Wednesday.
The African Union Center for Disease Prevention and Control already declared a continent-wide state of emergency due to the monkeypox virus a day earlier.
The virus has also occurred outside of Africa. Most recently, in 2022, virus infections caused a widespread epidemic, especially in Europe and North America. At that time, the epidemic was caused by a virus found in West Africa, which causes a milder form of the disease.
Last May, US health officials warned that a more deadly version of the virus was spreading in the Congo. At least at that time, infections of the subtype in question had not been found outside of Africa.
Monkeypox is a virus related to smallpox that is often found in Central and West Africa. The virus is not easily transmitted from one person to another, but according to the Institute of Health and Welfare, it is primarily transmitted from animals.
The first symptoms of monkeypox can be fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, back pain, muscle pain and fatigue.
There is reason to suspect infection if, in addition to the initial symptoms, there is a generalized or localized reddening, pimple-like or blister-like rash on the skin.
The incubation period of the virus is about 6–13 days, but according to THL, the time can vary between 5 and 21 days.
There is a vaccine against monkeypox. In Finland, the vaccine is given to those who have been exposed to the virus and those who belong to the risk group.
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