WHO calls emergency meeting as monkeypox cases top 100 in Europe
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[May 21, 2022] By
Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover
LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health
Organization was holding an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the
recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and
central Africa, after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in
Europe.
In what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever, cases
have been reported in at least nine countries – Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United
Kingdom - as well as the United States, Canada and Australia.
Spain reported 24 new cases on Friday, mainly in the Madrid region where
the regional government closed a sauna linked to the majority of
infections.
A hospital in Israel was treating a man in his 30s who is displaying
symptoms consistent with the disease after recently arriving from
Western Europe.
First identified in monkeys, the disease typically spreads through close
contact and has rarely spread outside Africa, so this series of cases
has triggered concern.
However, scientists do not expect the outbreak to evolve into a pandemic
like COVID-19, given the virus does not spread as easily as SARS-COV-2.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/May/21/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
Monkeypox is usually a mild viral illness, characterised by symptoms of
fever as well as a distinctive bumpy rash.
"This is the largest and most widespread outbreak of monkeypox ever seen
in Europe," said Germany's armed forces' medical service, which detected
its first case in the country on Friday.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) committee meeting to discuss the
issue is the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious
Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential (STAG-IH), which advises on
infection risks that could pose a global health threat.
It would not be responsible for deciding whether the outbreak should be
declared a public health emergency of international concern, WHO's
highest form of alert, which is currently applied to the COVID-19
pandemic.
"There appears to be a low risk to the general public at this time," a
senior U.S. administration official said.
COMMUNITY SPREAD
Fabian Leendertz, from the Robert Koch Institute, described the outbreak
as an epidemic.
"However, it is very unlikely that this epidemic will last long. The
cases can be well isolated via contact tracing and there are also drugs
and effective vaccines that can be used if necessary," he said.
Still, the WHO's European chief said he was concerned that infections
could accelerate in the region as people gather for parties and
festivals over the summer months.
There is no specific vaccine for monkeypox, but data shows that the
vaccines used to eradicate smallpox are up to 85% effective against
monkeypox, according to the WHO.
British authorities said they have offered a smallpox vaccine to some
healthcare workers and others who may have been exposed to monkeypox.
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![](../images/052122pics/news_a57.jpg)
A section of skin tissue, harvested from a lesion on the skin of a
monkey, that had been infected with monkeypox virus, is seen at 50X
magnification on day four of rash development in 1968. CDC/Handout
via REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/May/21/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
Since 1970, monkeypox cases have been reported in 11
African countries. Nigeria has had a large ongoing outbreak since
2017. So far this year, there have been 46 suspected cases, of which
15 have since been confirmed, according to the WHO.
The first European case was confirmed on May 7 in an individual who
returned to England from Nigeria.
Since then, over 100 cases have been confirmed outside Africa,
according to a tracker by a University of Oxford academic.
Many of the cases are not linked to travel to the continent. As a
result, the cause of this outbreak is unclear, although health
authorities have said that there is potentially some degree of
community spread.
SEXUAL HEALTH CLINICS
The WHO said the early cases were unusual for three reasons: All but
one have no relevant travel history to areas where monkeypox is
endemic; most are being detected through sexual health services and
among men who have sex with men, and the wide geographic spread
across Europe and beyond suggests that transmission may have been
going on for some time.
In Britain, where 20 cases have been now confirmed, the UK Health
Security Agency said the recent cases in the country were
predominantly among men who self-identified as gay, bisexual or men
who have sex with men.
Portugal detected nine more cases on Friday, taking its total to 23.
The previous tally of 14 cases were all detected in sexual health
clinics and were men aged between 20 and 40 years old who
self-identified as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.
It was too early to say if the illness has morphed into a sexually
transmitted disease, said Alessio D'Amato, health commissioner of
the Lazio region in Italy. Three cases have been reported so far in
the country.
"The idea that there's some sort of sexual transmission in this, I
think, is a little bit of a stretch," said Stuart Neil, professor of
virology at Kings College London.
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Scientists are sequencing the virus from different cases to see if
they are linked, the WHO has said. The agency is expected to provide
an update soon.
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover in London;
additional reporting by Emma Pinedo Gonzalez, Emma Farge, Catriona
Demony, Patricia Weiss, Eric Beech, Dan Williams and Michael Erman;
Writing by Josephine Mason and Costas Pitas; Editing by Nick Macfie,
David Clarke and Bill Berkrot)
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