A press briefing was given May 27 by the World Health Organization Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention chief Sylvie Briand, who warned on May 27 at the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, that the hundreds of cases of monkeypox that have occurred in over 20 countries may be just “the tip of the iceberg.”
During the public briefing, as reported by RT and AP, the UN’s WHO said there are still many unanswered questions about what triggered the unprecedented outbreak of monkeypox outside of Africa, but there is no evidence that any genetic changes in the virus are responsible.
“The first sequencing of the virus shows that the strain is not different from the strains we can find in endemic countries and (this outbreak) is probably due more to a change in human behavior,” said Dr. Briand.
The disease is endemic in Western and Central Africa, and outbreaks outside the continent are considered rare. It is a close cousin to smallpox, which is the only disease to be eradicated from the human race, thanks to vaccinations worldwide.
Some believe the official figures are already an undercount; on May 27, Spanish authorities said the number of cases there had risen to 98, including one woman, whose infection is “directly related” to a chain of transmission that had been previously limited to men, according to officials in the region of Madrid.
Although monkeypox is not considered a sexually transmitted disease, WHO Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses Unit Head Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, PhD, has confirmed that the majority of the cases detected outside of Africa have been found in men who have sexual contact with men.
Additionally, doctors in Britain, Spain, Portugal, Canada, the U.S., and elsewhere have noted that the majority of infections to date have been in homosexual and bisexual men. The disease is no more likely to affect people because of their sexual orientation, and scientists warn the virus could infect others if transmission isn’t curbed.
Monkeypox virus is known to spread through close contact with the lesions, bodily fluids and respiratory droplets of infected people or animals.
Earlier this week, a top adviser to WHO said the outbreak in Europe, U.S., Israel, Australia and beyond was likely linked to sex at two recent raves in Spain and Belgium. That marks a significant departure from the disease’s typical pattern of spread in Central and Western Africa, where people are mainly infected by wild rodents and primates, and outbreaks haven’t spilled across borders.
Other officials have expressed concern that due to summer festivals in Europe in which “free love” is encouraged, the number of monkeypox cases is expected to rapidly increase.
