The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Thursday there is evidence of local transmission of monkeypox, as well as cases reported in people who have traveled abroad. According to a report by news agency Reuters, the cases are mainly occurring in men who engage in sexual relations with other men, but women are also getting infected, CDC staff member Dr. Agam Rao said at a panel meeting.
The lesions associated with the present monkeypox outbreak are also smaller than those typical of classic monkeypox, Rao said as quoted by Reuters.
On Thursday, the first emergency committee meeting on the ongoing Monkeypox outbreak took place and the members are likely to declare their decision on Friday. Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the spread of the disease both in non-endemic and endemic countries, “cannot be ignored”.
According to Tedros, the outbreak in newly affected countries continues to be primarily among men who have sex with men, and who have reported recent sex with new or multiple partners.
“Person-to-person transmission is ongoing and is likely underestimated. In Nigeria, the proportion of women affected is much higher than elsewhere, and it is critical to better understand how the disease is spreading there”, said the WHO chief.
He called for case finding, contact tracing, laboratory investigation, genome sequencing, and implementation of infection prevention and control measures. WHO also needs clear case definitions to help identify and report infections.
Although epidemiological investigations are underway, most reported cases in the recent outbreak have presented through sexual health or other health services in primary or secondary health care facilities, with a history of travel primarily to countries in Europe, North America or other countries rather than to countries where the virus was not historically known to be present, and increasingly, recent travel locally or no travel at all, as per WHO.
On Wednesday, the World Health Network (WHN) announced that they are declaring the current monkeypox outbreak a pandemic given that there are now 3,417 confirmed Monkeypox cases reported across 58 countries and the outbreak is rapidly expanding across multiple continents.
“The outbreak will not stop without concerted global action. Even with death rates much lower than smallpox, unless actions are taken to stop the ongoing spread—actions that can be practically implemented—millions of people will die and many more will become blind and disabled,” it said.
