WHO looks into reports of monkeypox virus in semen

[June 15, 2022]  LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) is looking into reports that the monkeypox virus is present in the semen of patients, exploring the possibility that the disease could be sexually transmitted, a WHO official said on Wednesday.

The agency still believes that virus is mainly transmitted via close interpersonal contact.

But in recent days, scientists have detected viral DNA in the semen of a handful of monkeypox patients in Italy and Germany.

"We really need to focus on the most frequent mode of transmission and we clearly see that to be associated with skin to skin contact," Catherine Smallwood, monkeypox incident manager at WHO/Europe, said in a press briefing.

Two samples of suspected cases of monkeypox go through a process of nucleic acid extraction as they get tested at a microbiology lab at La Paz Hospital in Madrid, Spain, June 1, 2022. REUTERS/Susana Vera

More than 1,300 cases of the viral disease have been reported by about 30 countries, mostly in Europe, since early May. Most cases have been reported in men who have sex with men.

(Reporting by Natalie Grover and Jennifer Rigby in London; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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