WHO again considers declaring monkeypox a global emergency

As the World Health Organisations emergency committee convenes Thursday to consider for the second time within weeks whether to declare monkeypox a global crisis some scientists say the striking differences between the outbreaks in Africa and in developed countries will complicate any coordinated responseAfrican officials say they are already treating the continents epidemic as an emergency But experts elsewhere say the mild version of monkeypox in Europe North America and beyond makes an emergency declaration unnecessary even if the virus cant be stopped British officials recently downgraded their assessment of the disease given its lack of severityMonkeypox has been entrenched for decades in parts of central and western Africa where diseased wild animals occasionally infect people in rural areas in relatively contained epidemics The disease in Europe North America and beyond has circulated since at least May among gay and bisexual men The epidemic in rich countries was likely triggered by sex at two raves in Spain and BelgiumAlso Read Monkeypox testing at all Tamil Nadu airports after Kerala reports first caseSome experts worry these and other differences could possibly deepen existing medical inequities between poor and wealthy nationsThere are now more than 15000 monkeypox cases worldwide While the United States Britain Canada and other countries have bought millions of vaccines none have gone to Africa where a more severe version of monkeypox has already killed more than 70 people Rich countries havent yet reported any monkeypox deathsWhats happening in Africa is almost entirely separate from the outbreak in Europe and North America said Dr Paul Hunter a professor of medicine at Britains University of East Anglia who previously advised WHO on infectious diseasesThe UN health agency said this week that outside of Africa 9937 of all reported monkeypox cases are in men and of those 9837 are in men who have sex with other men Still the disease can infect anyone in close physical contact with a monkeypox patient regardless of their sexual orientationIn these very active gay sexual networks you have men who really really dont want people to know what theyre doing and may not themselves always know who they are having sex with Hunter saidSome of those men may be married to women or have families unaware of their sexual activity which makes contact tracing extremely difficult and even things like asking people to come forward for testing Hunter said explaining why vaccination may be the most effective way to shut down the outbreakThats probably not the case in Africa where limited data suggests monkeypox is mainly jumping into people from infected animals Although African experts acknowledge they could be missing cases among gay and bisexual men given limited surveillance and stigmatization against LGBTQ people authorities have relied on standard measures like isolation and education to control the diseaseDr Placide Mbala a virologist who directs the global health department at Congos Institute of National Biomedical Research said there are also noticeable differences between patients in Africa and the WestWe see here in Congo very quickly after three to four days visible lesions in people exposed to monkeypox Mbala said adding that someone with so many visible lesions is unlikely to go out in public thus preventing further transmissionBut in countries including Britain and the US doctors have observed some infected people with only one or two lesions often in their genitalsYou wouldnt notice that if youre just with that person in a taxi or a bar Mbala said So in the West people without these visible lesions may be silently spreading the diseaseHe said different approaches in different countries will likely be needed to stop the global outbreak making it challenging to adopt a single response strategy worldwide like those for Ebola and Covid19Dr Dimie Ogoina a professor of medicine at Nigerias Niger Delta University said he feared the worlds limited vaccine supplies would result in a repeat of the problems that arose in the coronavirus pandemic when poorer countries were left emptyhanded after rich countries hoarded most of the dosesIt does not make sense to just control the outbreak in Europe and America because you will then still have the animal source of the outbreak in Africa said Ogoina who sits on WHOs monkeypox emergency committeeThis week US officials said more than 100000 monkeypox vaccine doses were being sent to states in the next few days with several million more on order for the months ahead The US has reported more than 2000 cases so far with hundreds more added every daySome US public health experts have begun to wonder if the outbreak is becoming widespread enough that monkeypox will become a new sexually transmitted diseaseDeclaring monkeypox to be a global emergency could also inadvertently worsen the rush for vaccines despite the mildness of the disease being seen in most countriesDr Hugh Adler who treats monkeypox patients in Britain said there arent many serious cases or infections beyond gay and bisexual men Still he said it was frustrating that more vaccines werent available since the outbreak was doubling about every two weeks in the UKIf reclassifying monkeypox as a global emergency will make vaccines available then maybe thats what needs to be done he said But in an ideal world we should be able to make the necessary interventions without the emergency declarationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever