WHO: Monkeypox won't turn into pandemic, but many unknowns

The World Health Organisations top monkeypox expert said she doesnt expect the hundreds of cases reported to date to turn into another pandemic but acknowledged there are still many unknowns about the disease including how exactly its spreading and whether the suspension of mass smallpox immunisation decades ago may somehow be speeding its transmissionIn a public session on Monday WHOs Dr Rosamund Lewis said it was critical to emphasise that the vast majority of cases being seen in dozens of countries globally are in gay bisexual or men who have sex with men so that scientists can further study the issue and for populations at risk to take precautionsIts very important to describe this because it appears to be an increase in a mode of transmission that may have been underrecognized in the past said Lewis WHOs technical lead on monkeypoxStill she warned that anyone is at potential risk of the disease regardless of their sexual orientationOther experts have pointed out that it may be accidental that the disease was first picked up in gay and bisexual men saying it could quickly spill over into other groups if it is not curbedLewis said its unknown whether monkeypox is being transmitted by sex or just the close contact between people engaging in sexual activity and described the threat to the general population as lowIt is not yet known whether this virus is exploiting a new mode of transmission but what is clear is that it continues to exploit its wellknown mode of transmission which is close physical contact Lewis saidMonkeypox is known to spread when there is close physical contact with an infected person or their clothing or bedsheetsShe also warned that among the current cases there is a higher proportion of people with fewer lesions that are more concentrated in the genital region and sometimes nearly impossible to seeYou may have these lesions for two to four weeks and they may not be visible to others but you may still be infectious she saidLast week a top adviser to WHO said the outbreak in Europe US Israel Australia and beyond was likely linked to sex at two recent raves in Spain and BelgiumThat marks a significant departure from the diseases typical pattern of spread in central and western Africa where people are mainly infected by animals like wild rodents and primates and epidemics havent spilled across bordersMost monkeypox patients experience only fever body aches chills and fatiguePeople with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body No deaths have been reported in the current outbreakWHOs Lewis also said that while previous cases of monkeypox in central and western Africa have been relatively contained it was not clear if people could spread monkeypox without symptoms or if the disease might be airborne like measles or Covid19Monkeypox is related to smallpox but has milder symptomsAfter smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 countries suspended their mass immunisation programs a move that some experts believe may be helping monkeypox spread since there is now little widespread immunity to related diseases smallpox vaccines are also protective against monkeypoxLewis said it would be unfortunate if monkeypox were able to exploit the immunity gap left by smallpox 40 years ago saying that there was still a window of opportunity to close down the outbreak so that monkeypox would not become entrenched in new regionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever