Although the monkeypox virus does not appear to be spreading rapidly at the moment, the World Health Organization took an unusual step on Tuesday against the background of the unusual increase in recent cases.
The organization has announced that it will set up a special emergency committee to decide whether to declare a "public health emergency affecting the whole world."
The meeting will be held next Thursday and the CEO of Tedros Adhanum Gavriusos explained the reasons for the alarming move: "There is no doubt that the situation is unusual, because the virus behaves in an unusual way compared to the familiar pattern from previous years.
It is affecting more and more countries and I believe it needs a coordinated response because of its geographical spread. "
He stressed that the reason for the special conference is because it is better now than "when the situation gets out of hand."
The establishment of a special committee, called the Emergency Committee, is an exceptional move and is designed to deal with unplanned outbreaks.
Today there are emergency committees only for the corona virus and the polio virus.
In the past there have been emergency committees to deal with other viruses that have erupted, including Ebola.
There are currently over 1,600 cases of chickenpox in 32 countries, and there are another 1,500 suspected cases.
The death rate of the virus stands at 72, but only in the countries where it usually breaks out, i.e. in West and Central Africa.
To date there have been no reported deaths outside this region, but there are suspicions that there have been such in Brazil recently.
Currently, the World Health Organization does not recommend vaccinations for the entire population.
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