Faced with the outbreak of monkeypox, the World Health Organization (WHO) triggered its highest level of alert this Saturday afternoon, announced Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a conference in hurry.
Cases of monkeypox now strike nearly 17,000 people in 74 countries, announced its director general. “I have decided to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” he added, adding that the risk in the world was relatively moderate apart from Europe where it is high.
Less dangerous and contagious than its cousin smallpox
Detected in early May, the unusual upsurge in monkeypox cases outside central and western African countries where the virus is endemic has since spread across the globe, with Europe as its epicenter.
First detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin smallpox, eradicated in 1980. In most cases, sufferers are men who have sex with men, relatively young, and living mainly in cities, according to the WHO.