Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : June 3, 2022 2:02 PM IST
Monkeypox infections have now spread to nearly 30 countries with more than 550 confirmed cases. Will it turn into another pandemic? Experts at the World Health Organisation (WHO) have earlier said that monkeypox outbreak is unlikely to turn into a pandemic. The UN health agency had also said that the virus can be contained. Now, the organisation has taken a U-turn on monkeypox, and admitted that it is usure if the virus can be kept in check.
"We do not yet know if we will be able to contain its spread completely," said Dr Hans Kluge, head of the WHO's Europe office, as quoted by news agencies.
He has also stressed the need to take "significant and urgent" action to mitigate the threat, even though the monkeypox response may not have to mimic the scale of Covid-style restrictions.
"We now have a critical opportunity to act quickly, together, to rapidly investigate and control this fast-evolving situation," he was quoted as saying.
Earlier, WHO officials had stated that the monkeypox outbreak "is a containable situation", and "collectively, the world has an opportunity to stop this outbreak. There is a window".
Based on the reported cases, Europe is currently the epicentre of the current monkeypox outbreak, which is the largest and most geographically widespread outbreak ever reported outside of endemic areas in western and central Africa.
The first monkeypox case was reported from the UK on May 7, but Dr Kluge suggested that it may have been circulating since mid-April.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said the virus may have been spreading "undetected" for months or years.
He said, "The sudden appearance of monkeypox in many countries at the same time suggests there may have been undetected transmission for some time."
However, he noted that "investigations are ongoing and there are clear no answers yet."
Dr. Rosamund Lewis, the WHO's technical lead on monkeypox, had recently said that she doesn't expect the cases reported to date to turn into another pandemic. However, she admitted that many things remain unknown about the disease, including how exactly it's spreading and whether the suspension of mass smallpox immunisation decades ago may be speeding its transmission.
It is reported that the current Monkeypox outbreak is transmitted largely through sexual activity, primarily involving men who have sex with men, and fleeting and/or multiple sexual partners.
However, Dr. Kluge clarified that it isn't clear yet as to "whether the monkeypox virus can also spread from one person to another through semen or vaginal fluids". He added that there is also no clarity on "whether the virus could persist in these bodily fluids for longer periods of time."
Dr. Kluge urged people to reduce the number of sexual partners they have reduce their risk of exposure to the virus, but he warned against stigmatising the LGBTQ+ community.
