Enlarge image
Monkeypox virus (artist's rendering): what threatens the pathogen?
Photo: iStockphoto / Getty Images
Nearly 5,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in humans worldwide this year.
In more than 40 countries outside of Africa, where monkeypox was virtually unknown until May, there were 3,308 cases, according to the US health authority CDC.
According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), there are also around 1,600 suspected or confirmed cases in eight African countries, many of which have known such outbreaks for years.
Most cases outside Africa were reported in 29 countries in the WHO European region: a total of 2746. Almost all cases affect men, around 44 percent of those infected were between 31 and 40 years old.
Deaths have not yet been reported.
Because of the increasing number of monkeypox detections, the WHO has convened an emergency committee.
Independent experts advise on Thursday whether public health is threatened on a larger scale.
Then they would recommend declaring an "emergency of international concern."
Ultimately, the decision rests with the WHO.
The result of the deliberations of the expert council should not be known until Friday.
Why is the committee meeting?
The WHO is concerned about the increase in reported cases.
The virus is behaving unusually and more and more countries are being affected, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
By mid-June, the WHO had reported a good 2,100 cases.
Since then, the number has doubled in Germany alone.
Worryingly for the WHO, 98 percent of the cases were detected in countries where the virus was previously virtually unknown, rather than in the African countries that have known contagions for decades.
"We don't want to wait until the situation gets out of control," said WHO specialist Ibrahima Socé Fall when the committee convened.
What does it mean when an emergency is declared?
A Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) declaration is the highest level of alert that the WHO can declare.
However, this does not have any direct practical effects.
Rather, the organization wants to increase the awareness of the 194 member countries.
The expert council makes recommendations: for example, that clinics and practices should look out for cases and provide information to ensure that as few people as possible become infected.
The council also assesses "the risk of international spread and risks to international traffic," says WHO spokeswoman Carla Drysdale.
What conclusions governments draw from this is up to them.
Does the world have to prepare for a pandemic like the corona virus?
no
Even after the appearance of Sars-CoV-2 on January 30, 2020, the WHO declared an "emergency of international concern".
But the diseases are very different.
The definition of international emergency was introduced in 2007, since then a PHEIC has been declared six times:
H1N1 flu (“swine flu”) pandemic in 2009
Ebola epidemic in West Africa (2013 to 2015)
Polio (since 2014, still declared)
Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2018 to 2020)
Zika epidemic (2016)
Covid-19 pandemic (since 2020)
What can be seen from the list: PHEIC is not equal to PHEIC.
Depending on the pathogen, different measures are needed or needed to contain waves of disease.
The diseases listed differ significantly in their severity, the possible long-term consequences and their contagiousness.
How is monkeypox transmitted?
According to current knowledge, monkeypox is mainly transmitted from person to person through close physical contact.
According to WHO information, men who have sex with men and who have recently had changing or new partners are particularly affected.
In general, however, anyone who has close physical contact with infected people can become infected with monkeypox.
"The virus can be transmitted through skin and mucous membrane contact, but also through body fluids," explains infectiologist Leif Erik Sander.
Transmission via exhaled droplets also requires longer contact or can happen when kissing or cuddling, writes the US disease control agency CDC.
Transmission via contaminated objects, such as bed linen, is also possible.
For comparison: Sars-CoV-2 can spread via virus-containing aerosols that are produced when infected people breathe, cough and speak.
The aerosols can stay in the air for a long time, which contributes to the rapid transmission of this pathogen.
What are the pros and cons of declaring an international emergency?
Health experts in Geneva believe it is unlikely that the committee will recommend a declaration of an emergency at its first meeting.
On the other hand, the number of infections is not increasing explosively because, according to the current state of knowledge, transmission is much more difficult than with Corona.
In the current outbreak, no serious or fatal courses of the disease have usually been observed so far.
In addition, the monkeypox pathogen is a DNA virus and not an RNA virus like Sars-CoV-2: DNA viruses hardly mutate.
Therefore, more and more contagious variants like Corona are not expected so quickly.
Unlike when Corona started, there is already a vaccine.
It was developed against smallpox, but is also effective against monkeypox.
This speaks for itself: The virus behaves differently than was previously known.
Monkeypox is actually a disease of rodents in West and Central Africa.
Occasionally they jump over there to monkeys and also to humans.
Human-to-human transmission is possible with close contact.
What is new is that the virus is also spreading in Europe.
The WHO has been sharply criticized on several occasions for reacting too late to threats.
How is the situation in Germany?
As of June 22, 14 federal states have reported evidence of monkeypox, with a total of around 520 people affected.
A further increase is expected.
"It still seems possible to limit the current outbreak in Germany if infections are recognized in good time and precautionary measures implemented," writes the Robert Koch Institute.
wbr/dpa