The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the highest level of alert for monkeypox, and the risk is high in Europe, AFP reported. According to the DPA agency, this step has no direct practical consequences, as individual countries decide on possible measures. The highest alert level currently applies to covid-19 and polio.
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“I have decided to declare a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Saturday. He also called on the countries of the world to try to stop the spread of monkeypox. According to him, these have so far affected over 16,000 people in 75 countries. He also said that the risk in the world is relatively moderate, except in Europe, where it is high.
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The head of the WHO recalled that a month ago he convened a crisis committee to assess the risk of monkeypox. At that time, according to him, 3,040 cases were recorded in 47 countries, and the committee therefore concluded that the disease was not a health threat of global importance.
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Monkeypox was first recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1970s and until recently was mainly found in parts of central and western Africa. This May, however, they began to spread outside these countries, the first cases were recorded in Britain, Portugal and Spain. Less than two dozen cases were also confirmed in the Czech Republic.
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Symptoms of this disease include fever, headache, and a skin rash that usually appears first on the face and then spreads to the rest of the body.
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