So far, since the UK reported the first confirmed case of monkeypox on May 7, the WHO has received notifications of a total of 257 laboratory-confirmed cases and about 120 suspects in 23 countries.
Lewis warned that although the risk of it posing a serious public health problem is low, the situation is “unusual” because the virus is spreading rapidly in countries where it is not endemic (it is only endemic in central African countries). and western).
Monkeypox: what are the symptoms and how is it spread?
For this reason, he urged the authorities to work together with the WHO to apply the necessary measures to help contain the outbreak.
The expert declared that of the 257 confirmed cases none is related to travel to countries where this type of smallpox is endemic and therefore they continue to study the origin of the outbreak.
Regarding the transmission of this disease -whose main symptoms are fever, muscle pain, tiredness and small rashes on the skin-, preliminary studies indicate that the main routes of infection are close contact with wounds, body fluids and contaminated materials such as clothing or cutlery of an infected person.
To date, there is no evidence that infected lactating mothers carry the virus in their milk, although there is a high risk of infecting the baby during breastfeeding because close skin-to-skin contact is necessary, Lewis said.