The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that the latest outbreak of monkeypox in more than 50 countries does not constitute a public health emergency of international concern, the highest level of alert the WHO can issue.
However, “the risk of further, sustained transmission to the wider population” should not be overlooked, some members of the WHO’s Emergency Committee on the outbreak said in a report after a meeting on Thursday.
The report also said that the activity of the monkeypox virus “has been neglected and not well controlled for years in countries of the WHO African Region”.
“The very convening of the committee reflects the growing concern about the international spread of monkeypox,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the committee was open to reconvening depending on the evolution of the outbreak.
The committee highlighted a number of conditions that should trigger a reassessment of the event, such as an increase in the rate of increase in cases reported over the next 21 days, significant spread to and within additional countries, an increase in the number of cases in vulnerable groups and increased morbidity, mortality and hospitalization rates.
Tedros called for increased surveillance, improved diagnostics, community engagement and risk communication, as well as appropriate use of therapeutics, vaccines and public health measures, including contact tracing and isolation.
It also called on member states to cooperate, share information and engage with affected communities so that public health safety measures are communicated quickly and effectively.
Multiple clusters of the monkeypox virus have been reported in the past few weeks in several European countries and North America, regions where the virus is not normally found.
Endemic monkeypox disease is usually geographically limited to West and Central Africa, while the identification of confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox without a history of travel to an endemic area in multiple countries is atypical, according to the WHO.
Monkeypox, first discovered in laboratory monkeys in 1958, is believed to be transmitted from wild animals such as rodents to humans or from person to person. China Daily
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