Biden says monkeypox cases are something to 'worry about'

The president, Joe Biden, said this Sunday that the recent cases of monkeypox that have been detected in Europe and the United States were something to “worry about”.

“It is a concern in the sense that if it were to spread it would have consequences,” Biden said in his first public comments on the disease.

The president spoke from Osan Air Base in South Korea, where he visited troops before taking off for Japan to continue his first trip to Asia as president.

“I have not been told the level of exposure yet, but

,” Biden added, noting that his government is working to determine which vaccine could be effective.

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His National Security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters aboard the flight to Tokyo that the United States has a supply of "vaccine that is relevant to treating monkeypox."

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"We have vaccines available to be deployed for that purpose,"

he said, adding that Biden was receiving regular updates on the outbreak.

Monkeypox is rarely identified outside of Africa, but as of Sunday there were 92 confirmed cases worldwide and 28 suspects, including at least two in the United States.

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WHO says cases will continue to appear

The World Health Organization (WHO) said this Sunday that it is to be expected that cases of monkeypox will continue to appear, a disease that has been detected in the last ten days in twelve countries, but whose source and route of contagion have not yet been able to establish.

A case of monkeypox in a patient's hand on June 5, 2003.Getty Images

"The situation is evolving in such a way that

being identified as surveillance is extended in countries that are not endemic," the organization said.

Current information indicates that those who are most at risk of contagion are those who have close

with someone who is infected and has symptoms.

"The identification of confirmed or suspected cases without travel links to endemic areas is a very unusual event," the organization acknowledged.

Symptoms

Although the disease belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox,

People usually recover within two to four weeks without hospitalization, but the disease is rarely fatal.

Genomic sequence obtained from a swab from a case in Portugal has revealed a similarity to the smallpox virus exported from Nigeria and which caused outbreaks in the UK, Israel and Singapore between 2018 and 2019.

Monkeypox is a zoonosis (virus transmitted to humans by animals) and its symptoms are similar to those seen in the past among smallpox patients, although with less severity.

Its transmission takes place through contact with wounds, body fluids, droplets and contaminated material, such as bedding, and its incubation period is usually from six to thirteen days, although it can go up to 21 days.

Of the reported cases, it has not been possible to establish that any of those affected have been in an endemic area for this disease and it has been identified mainly (although not exclusively) among men who had sex with other men.

Immunity against this disease is very low among the young population, given that the population under 40 or 50 years of age has not received the smallpox vaccine and the virus has not been present in non-endemic countries.

With information from AP and Efe.