Dylan Bettencourt
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak a “global health emergency” of international concern.
Monkeypox now joins swine flu, polio, Zika, Ebola and Covid-19 in receiving the highest alert level from the WHO.
Around 16,000 cases have been detected in 75 different countries in recent months.
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission about which we understand too little,” said director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
While there are tens and thousands of cases, monkeypox has shown to be generally mild with a low death rate – only five confirmed deaths thus far.
“For the moment this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men. That means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups.” Dr Tedros added.
The director-general explained that while the risk levels are low in most countries, in Europe the risk is high.
The WHO last month declared that the outbreak was not a global emergency as the disease did not move out of the primary risk group.
The WHO now hopes that by declaring it as an emergency the transmission rate can be slowed down.
South Africa has only recorded three cases thus far, three men who have no previous travel history and a tourist from Switzerland who tested while in Limpopo.
The disease was first detected in central Africa in the 1950s and remains endemic in 11 different African countries.
Symptoms include fever, headaches, muscle aches and exhaustion. A rash often forms one to five days after being infected.
There is no monkeypox vaccine but the smallpox vaccine has shown to be 85% effective against the disease.
The United Kingdom has begun rolling out the vaccine to eligible bisexual and gay men, specifically in London.
