Smallpox is not a global emergency so far, says the WHO
Monday, June 27, 2022 – 08:45 UTC In Latin America, cases have been found in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.
The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded after an emergency meeting that 3,200 cases and just one monkeypox death worldwide were not enough to consider the disease a global emergency, they said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adanom Gebrejesus said that “at the moment, the situation is not an emergency for public health of international importance, which is the highest level of concern that the WHO can issue.”
“The Emergency Committee has shared its serious concerns about the scale and speed of the current epidemic,” he added.
The incidence of the disease has been increasing since May, where it was endemic to West and Central Africa and particularly focused in Europe. So far, 3,200 cases and one death have been reported in about 50 countries.
Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, muscle pain and dystonia. Rashes appear on the face, palms of the hands and feet; lesions, pustules and scabs, all of which subside in about three weeks.
The WHO Emergency Committee met in Geneva on Thursday to assess whether the outbreak was a “public health emergency of international importance.”
The declaration of an international state of emergency creates the conditions for strengthening coordination between the countries to limit the spread of the virus. COVID-19 and polio currently have this category.
Since the beginning of May, smallpox has spread rapidly throughout Europe, especially in London, Madrid and Lisbon, and increasingly in Berlin and Paris, while cases have been reported to increase in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.
Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease whose reservoir is found in small rodents in Central and West Africa. It is spread to humans through liquids, especially during sexual intercourse, but also in normal close contact with an infected person or with common bedding or other surfaces.
In Latin America, cases have been found in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.
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