The WHO declared another virus to be a global health emergency just 2.5 years after it did for Covid-19: The monkeypox outbreak, according to the UN's health agency, is on par with cases of Covid, polio, the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and the Zika virus in 2016, and demands the highest level of worry.
To break the tie, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke up, stating, "We have an outbreak that has moved over the world swiftly through new mechanisms of transmission, about which we understand too little." In reality, the emergency committee was unable to come to a consensus on whether monkeypox should be declared an emergency.
Long an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa, monkeypox has recently become rampant in previously unaffected areas. According to the CDC, the virus has infected more than 16,000 people worldwide since May.
According to the WHO, men account for 99 percent of infections outside of Africa, and men who have sex with other men—particularly those with several sexual partners—are responsible for 98 percent of cases. The organization advised against stigmatizing this population and indicated that the outbreak might be controlled by distributing information and services specifically to the neighborhood.
The virus with which monkeypox most closely resembles, smallpox, is more deadly and more contagious, yet monkeypox can still leave you with a severe rash. Monkeypox is believed to be curable in more than 99 percent of patients, and there are currently accessible vaccinations and antivirals for both prevention and treatment.
But there aren't enough immunizations available right now. For instance, San Francisco claims that it has only received 7,700 of the 35,000 pills it requested from the federal stockpile to meet demand. According to some experts, the US is making the same mistakes it did in the early stages of Covid when it comes to responding to monkeypox.
As more resources are allocated to containing the monkeypox outbreak, both the WHO and US health authorities are optimistic. Some scientists believe that if it is not—and one should never underestimate a virus these days—it could develop into a persistent sexually transmitted disease.
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