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People with symptoms of monkeypox should abstain from sex, British health authorities recommend, as the country reports 179 confirmed cases of the disease amid a rare global epidemic.
The guide advises those who have been infected with monkeypox to use condoms for at least eight weeks after the infection subsides as a “precautionary measure”, while public health experts learn more about how the virus spreads among humans.
People who have monkeypox or think they may have it “should avoid contact with other people until their lesions have healed and the scabs have dried,” the guide said.
The World Health Organization said the outbreak of monkeypox was unlikely to turn into a pandemic, but warned that steps must be taken quickly to stop the spread.
The WHO said on Sunday that nearly two dozen countries had reported a total of 257 confirmed cases and about 120 suspected cases of monkeypox. In the UK, which has the highest reported number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in the world, according to the WHO, health authorities have proposed new measures for health professionals and the public.
What is monkeypox, the rare virus that is now confirmed in the United States and Europe?
Rosamund Lewis, WHO’s technical director for monkeypox, told a briefing Monday that most confirmed cases have been identified in gays, bisexuals and other men who have sex with men, and that the risk to the wider population is “low”.
“This group of people [men who have sex with men] “They are the ones most affected by the cases at the moment, and the idea is obviously to stop further spread so that it doesn’t affect the general population,” she said. “Having said that, anyone can be put at risk.”
Lewis said that “the world has a chance to stop this outbreak” by identifying confirmed or potential cases, isolating them and tracking their close contacts and keeping an eye on those who have been exposed, who according to WHO guidelines should not stay at home, if they show no symptoms.
“We are not currently concerned about a global pandemic,” she added. “We are concerned that people can get this infection through high-risk exposure if they do not have the information they need to protect themselves.
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The new leadership of the British government is designed in part to help those who have the disease or are exposed to it, in addition to summarizing what is known and unknown about the virus. The document states that most infections have so far occurred through close, direct contact.
People with monkeypox can be isolated at home, as long as they are monitored by local health authorities, the guide said. Their close contacts should not be quarantined if they are asymptomatic, but will be monitored and may be “told to isolate for 21 days if necessary”.
People with confirmed or suspected monkeypox should “abstain from sex as long as they are symptomatic, including the early period of symptoms and as long as there are lesions,” it said.
He added that “there is currently no evidence of monkeypox in genital excretions”, but recommended that “as a precautionary measure” those who have had monkeypox “use condoms for 8 weeks after infection”, noting that the guidelines could to change.
The British Health Security Agency, one of the departments behind the leadership, has begun offering a smallpox vaccine, a new version of which has been approved in the United States for use against monkeypox to close contacts of confirmed cases, “to reduce the risk of symptomatic infection and severe illness. “
Studies show that the smallpox vaccine is at least 85 percent effective against monkeypox, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The United States stopped vaccinating people against smallpox – which was eradicated worldwide in 1980 – as a routine procedure in the 1970s.
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The WHO does not recommend universal vaccination against monkeypox, although it says countries may want to vaccinate close contacts after being exposed to the virus, or health workers who may be exposed in the future.
At a briefing Monday, Lewis of the WHO said it would be “unfortunate” to allow monkeypox to establish itself as … an infection that can be transmitted from person to person and to exploit the gap in immunity left by smallpox 40 years ago. ”
“So the WHO is very keen on the history of smallpox eradication to stop this outbreak as soon as possible,” she said.
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