World Health Organization: Monkey Pox - "Terrible Challenge"
Health officials in the UK recommend that infected people go into isolation for three weeks.
Belgium is the first country to announce on Friday a three-week closure for those infected
News agencies
23/05/2022
Monday, 23 May 2022, 10:45 Updated: 10:50
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The world faces "formidable" challenges, including corona, the war in Ukraine and monkey pox, the World Health Organization's chairman, Theodros Adhanum, warned last night (Sunday)
. Monkey pox in 15 countries around the world.
More than 90 cases have been diagnosed in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and Israel.
However, the risk to the general public is, according to experts, low.
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In the video: A briefing by doctors from Massachusetts Hospital on the first case of monkey pox (Photo: Reuters)
Monkey pox - a virus common in remote areas of central and western Africa - does not tend to spread easily between people, and the disease is usually mild.
Most people who become infected recover within a few weeks, according to the UK National Health Service (NHS).
The outbreak surprised scientists, and health officials in the UK recommend that infected people go into isolation for three weeks.
Belgium is the first country to announce on Friday a three-week closure for those infected.
According to Adenheim, "Of course the corona plague is not the only crisis in our world. As we speak, our colleagues around the world are responding to Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, monkey pox and jaundice from an unknown source, and complex humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan Ukraine and Yemen.
"We are facing a formidable concentration of disease, drought, famine and war that are exacerbated by climate change, inequality and geopolitical competition," the head of the organization said.
A man with chickenpox in an outbreak of the disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Photo: Reuters, CDC / Brian WJ Mahy)
The organization had earlier announced that several suspected cases of monkey pox were being investigated - but did not specify the names of the countries where the cases were diagnosed - and warned that there would be more cases.
After being first detected in the UK, the virus has been diagnosed in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden.
Yesterday, cases were also diagnosed in Austria and Switzerland.
Although there is no specific vaccine for monkey pox, some states have said that they hoard chickenpox vaccines, which are 85% effective in preventing the disease.
It is not yet clear why the unexpected outbreak has now occurred.
One possibility is that the virus has changed and become a new variant, but there is no evidence to date.
Another explanation is that the virus found itself in the right place and at the right time to thrive.
Another factor is that the monkey chickenpox virus is now spreading more easily because in the past the chickenpox vaccine was used more widely.
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