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First diagnoses of monkeypox outbreak in children worry WHO

2022-07-01T10:55:11.605Z


The director general of the organization opens the door to reconvene the experts "as soon as possible", five days after giving up declaring the international emergency


The first reports of young children infected by the monkeypox outbreak in Europe, at least four in recent days and a fifth already known a few weeks ago, have increased concern about the evolution of the current outbreak of the disease, which affects more than 5,500 people in fifty countries.

These cases have been known just after the World Health Organization (WHO) ruled out last Saturday declaring an international emergency due to the increase in cases of the disease, although the agency has already warned that it could change its criteria if the situation evolved. towards some scenarios, one of which was an increase in cases among vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women and immunosuppressed people.

Available data shows that children, especially younger ones, are at higher risk of serious illness if they become infected.

The last known contagion in children was this Tuesday in Spain.

The minor is three years old, although no details about his sex, state of health or community of residence have emerged.

The data is included in the situation report prepared by the Ministry of Health, dated on the 28th and which analyzes the first 800 confirmed cases in Spain, a figure that already exceeds 1,500 according to the updates offered by the communities.

Reporting on the people affected, the report notes that “a total of 792 are men, 8 are women;

the age ranges between 3 and 67 years, with a median of 37 years”.

This assumes that the youngest of them is that age, although it is not possible to know if there are other older ones also infected.

The Community of Madrid, which concentrates more than half of the cases in the country, has reported this Thursday that, among the 820 diagnosed in the region, none is a minor.

The Ministry of Health has declined to offer more specific data and states that these infections are "something very specific".

Also on Tuesday, the Dutch authorities reported the diagnosis of a minor primary school student, of whom no further details were offered except that it was unknown then how he had become infected and that contact tracing had begun to rule out more cases in its environment.

On Saturday, France was the country that reported a confirmed case and another suspected case among students also in primary school.

The UK has so far recorded at least two infections in minors.

The first in May and affected a baby who had to be admitted to the ICU but who ended up recovering thanks to the use of the antiviral Tecovirimat, of which few doses are available but which has already begun to be distributed in several countries, including Spain.

The British authorities have reported this week of a second case.

The WHO has shown its concern about these infections.

"I am concerned about the sustained circulation of the existing virus because it can lead to the virus establishing itself [in new countries] and affecting risk groups such as children, immunosuppressed people and pregnant women," the agency's director general, Tedros, warned on Wednesday. Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"The experts on the committee recommended that I bring them back together soon if the situation evolves quickly, and this is what I will do," he added.

The WHO has not reported whether it has already decided to hold a second meeting of its expert committee and the date on which it could be held, although it has pointed out that, if necessary, the meeting will be held "as soon as possible". .

The committee of experts stated in its first meeting that the declaration of the international emergency would be inevitable if the virus continues to advance towards some scenarios, one of which was the growth of cases in risk groups.

In recent days, the growth of cases in the world has followed the same trend of recent weeks: almost every day more cases are confirmed than the previous one (about 500 in recent days), although with figures far from the explosion of infections experienced by the coronavirus.

The vast majority of infections, moreover, remain mild.

According to the Health report, of the first 800 positives registered in Spain, 24 have required hospitalization, which represents 3%.

Spain is by far the most affected country this Thursday, although the comparison of the data offered by each Government is difficult because not all of them report on a daily basis and some accumulate greater notification delays.

Communities have so far reported 1,457 confirmed cases.

Madrid, with 820 and a growth rate of about 30 a day, continues to be the most affected.

"We have a sustained rate of new diagnoses with a majority of unknown close sexual contacts, so it is foreseeable that there will continue to be transmission of the virus," explains a spokesperson for the Community.

Antonio Alcamí, a researcher specializing in the viruses that cause the different types of smallpox at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), agrees that "there is a background transmission that is not being detected due to tracking difficulties, so it is It is foreseeable that cases will continue to arise for a longer time.

According to this scientist, "the scant information offered on the cases diagnosed in children prevents us from knowing if they are specific cases contracted at home that are not going to go any further or suppose the start of new, more worrying chains of contagion."

Catalonia, with the vast majority of the cases identified in the Barcelona metropolitan area, yesterday reported 230 new positives in the last week, up to a total of 380, with which the rate of new diagnoses in this community is already similar to that of Madrid.

Andalusia, with 111 cases, and the Canary Islands, with 46, are the other two most affected communities.

At the international level, the United Kingdom is after Spain the country with the most confirmed positives, 1,076, although it has not updated data since Tuesday.

Germany is the country where infections are growing most strongly and is already about to reach a thousand (969).

In the United States, the cases amount to 350, although they are growing strongly in large cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which is why the authorities have decided to activate the CDC's Emergency Operations Center to deal with the outbreak.

Source: elparis

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