Monkeypox cases triple in Europe, WHO says, Africa concerned

London, June 3 (BNA) The Secretary-General of the World Health Organization in Europe warned, on Friday, that the incidence of monkeypox in the region has tripled in the past two weeks, and urged countries to do more to ensure that the previously rare disease does not take root in the continent.

African health authorities have said they are treating the growing outbreak of monkeypox as an emergency, and have called on wealthy nations to share limited supplies of vaccines to avoid equity problems seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The head of the World Health Organization in Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, said in a statement that more efforts were needed despite the decision of the United Nations health agency last week that the escalating outbreak did not warrant declaring a global health emergency.

“Urgent and coordinated action is imperative if we are to cut a corner in the race to reverse the ongoing spread of this disease,” Kluge said.

To date, more than 5,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 51 countries around the world that typically do not report the disease, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of infections in Europe accounts for about 90% of the global total, Kluge said, with 31 countries in the WHO’s European region identifying cases.

Kluge said there are now “small numbers” of cases among family contacts, including children. Most people report symptoms including rash, fever, fatigue, muscle aches, vomiting, and chills.

Scientists warn anyone in close physical contact with a person with monkeypox, their clothing or bed linen, are at risk of infection. Vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women are believed to be more likely to develop serious illnesses.

About 10% of patients were taken to hospital for treatment or isolation, and one person was admitted to the intensive care unit. No deaths have been reported.

The World Health Organization in Africa says that according to detailed data from monkeypox cases in Ghana, they were roughly equally divided between men and women.

The WHO’s director of Europe, Kluge, also said that the procurement of vaccines “must apply the principles of fairness”.

The main vaccine used against monkeypox was originally developed for smallpox, and the European Medicines Agency said this week it had begun evaluating whether it should be licensed for monkeypox. The World Health Organization said supplies of the vaccine, which is produced by the northern state of Bavaria, are very limited.

Countries including the UK and Germany have already started vaccinating people at risk of developing monkeypox; The United Kingdom recently expanded its immunization program to mostly cover gay and bisexual men who have multiple sexual partners and are believed to be at greater risk.

Until May, monkeypox was never known to cause large outbreaks outside parts of Central and West Africa, where it has been killing people for decades, is endemic in many countries and often causes limited outbreaks when transmitted to humans from infected wild animals.

To date, there have been about 1,800 suspected monkeypox cases in Africa, including more than 70 deaths, but only 109 have been laboratory confirmed. A lack of laboratory diagnosis and poor monitoring mean that many cases go undetected.

“This specific outbreak for us means an emergency,” said Ahmed Oguil, acting director of the African Centers for Disease Control.

The World Health Organization says monkeypox has spread to African countries where it has never been seen before, including South Africa, Ghana and Morocco. But more than 90% of infections on the continent are in Congo and Nigeria, according to the WHO’s Africa director, Dr. Moeti Machidiso.

Vaccines were never used to stop an outbreak of monkeypox in Africa; Officials mostly relied on tracing and isolating contacts.

The World Health Organization noted that similar to last year’s scramble for COVID-19 vaccines, countries with supplies of monkeypox vaccines have yet to share them with Africa.

“We don’t have any donations made to the (poorer) countries,” said Fiona Braca, who heads the emergency response team in Africa at the World Health Organization. “We know that those countries that have some stocks, they mainly keep them for their own population.”

Machidiso said the WHO was in talks with manufacturers and countries with stocks to see if they could be shared.

“We would like to see the global spotlight on monkeypox act as a catalyst to beat this disease once and for all in Africa,” she said Thursday.

MI