Monkeypox may be spreading to dozens of nations but does not yet qualify as a global emergency, the World Health Organization said Saturday.
However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said monkeypox was developing rapidly and advised governments around the world to step up surveillance, contact tracing and testing, CNBC reported. He also urged world leaders to ensure that people at high risk have access to vaccines and antiviral treatments.
WHO said mass vaccination is not currently recommended to stop monkeypox. The US offers vaccines to people at high risk of exposure to the virus and has sent doses to New York amid a surge in cases.
A total of 87 people had tested positive in New York as of Friday, according to the city’s health department, up from 78 on Thursday.
WHO held an emergency meeting to determine the threat level of monkeypox. At least 3,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 50 countries have been identified since early May, WHO figures show.
At least 3,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 50 countries have been identified since early May. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has advised governments around the world to step up surveillance, contact tracing and testing. Johanna Geron/Pool via AP
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US has reported 460 confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox in 32 states and Washington.
At stake was the possibility that the WHO’s emergency committee would activate the organization’s highest alert level – similar to that set in motion by COVID-19.
Tedros said the outbreak was worrying because it was spreading quickly outside remote parts of West and Central Africa, where it normally occurs. In the current outbreak, 84% of the cases reported worldwide are in Europe, which is rare.
The US offers monkeypox vaccines to people who are at high risk of exposure. Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images
“What makes the current outbreak particularly worrying is the rapid, ongoing spread to new countries and regions and the risk of further, sustained transmission to vulnerable populations, including immunocompromised people, pregnant women and children,” Tedros said in statement on Saturday.
Exactly how and why monkeypox—which is usually transmitted from an infected animal to a human host—emerged and spread across continents remains a mystery.
Historically, most cases have come from West and Central Africa, after contact with an infected animal — mostly rodents, scientists believe, but sometimes also nonhuman primates.
Monkeypox is primarily spread through close physical contact with an infected person or contaminated material, such as shared clothing or sheets. The virus can spread through respiratory droplets if the sick person has lesions in his throat or mouth. However, this requires prolonged face-to-face contact, and monkeypox, unlike Covid-19, is not thought to be spread by aerosol particles.
WHO said mass vaccination is not currently recommended to stop monkeypox. Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The monkeypox outbreak mostly affected gay and bisexual men who said they had sex with new or multiple partners, the WHO said.
The illness often begins with flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, body aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes. Then a pimple-like rash or blisters appear on the body. People are most contagious when they have a rash.
There is no specific treatment for monkeypox, the CDC says, but antiviral drugs and vaccines developed to deal with smallpox can treat and prevent infections.
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