New Delhi: The monkeypox virus has spread across more than 20 countries with about 200 confirmed cases and more than 100 suspected cases in nations where it is typically not found, the World Health Organization (WHO) said during a question-answer session of the global health agency on Friday. As per reports, in the wake of the surge, WHO has urged the countries to step up surveillance.
According to a CNBC report, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said that more Monkeypox cases are likely to be reported if surveillance expands but added that the recent spread is containable.
“We expect more cases to be detected. We are asking countries to increase surveillance,” Van Kerkhove said, adding, “This is a containable situation. It will be difficult, but it’s a containable situation in non-endemic countries,” CNBC quoted Kerkhove as saying.
Notably, the first case was reported on in UK on May 7 following which the viral disease has spread to North America and Europe over the past few weeks. However, no death has been reported so far.
As per reports, the outbreak is caused by a milder West African viral strain and most of the patients recover in a few weeks.
So far, the European Union (EU) has confirmed 118 Monkeypox cases, Spain and Portugal have logged the largest number with 51 and 37 cases respectively, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said, while the UK Health Security Agency has confirmed 90 cases of the virus.
It is to be noted that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified nine cases across seven states while Canadian health officials have confirmed 16 cases, all detected in Quebec province, the CNBC report said.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that some US patients haven’t travelled to countries with active outbreaks which shows that the virus is spreading domestically.
According to health officials, monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease. It can spread through any kind of sustained skin-to-skin contact with the infected person having a lesion.
The virus can also spread through body fluids, contaminated bed sheets and clothing, or even respiratory droplets of an infected person.
Van Kerkhove said the health-care professionals to consider monkeypox a diagnosis for patients with rash illnesses, the report said.
“It doesn’t mean that anyone with a rash will have monkeypox but we need to raise awareness about what monkeypox is and isn’t, and we need to ensure that countries have the capacity to test and provide the right information,” CNBC quoted Kerkhove as saying.
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