Faced with the monkeypox outbreak, the WHO director general must announce this Saturday whether or not he has chosen to activate the organization’s highest level of alert. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will give a virtual press conference at 1 pm GMT, the UN organization announced on Friday night.
The statement said nothing about the nature of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ announcement, as the outbreak of monkeypox cases now affects more than 15,800 people in 72 countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel. Diseases (CDC). July 20th.
Again on Thursday, during a long meeting of the Committee of Experts that should guide him in his decision and his recommendations, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained that he “remains concerned” about the spread of the disease, even if the rate of spread has decreased in some places.
Highest alert level of the health agency
It is the head of the WHO who is responsible for possibly declaring a public health emergency of international concern, the health agency’s highest alert level, which is supposed to trigger a whole series of actions by member countries.
During a first meeting on June 23, most experts recommended to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus not to declare the public health emergency of international concern (USPPI).
“Monkeypox is out of control, there is no legal, scientific or health reason not to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” the US health law professor tweeted Friday night. Lawrence Gostin and Director of the WHO Center for Health Law.
Less dangerous than smallpox.
Detected in early May, the unusual rise in monkeypox cases outside of West and Central African countries where the virus is endemic has since spread across the world, with Europe as the epicenter.
First detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin, smallpox, eradicated in 1980. In most cases, those affected are men who have sex with men, relatively young and they live mainly in cities, according to the WHO.
A study published Thursday in the scientific journal New England Journal of Medicinethe largest on the subject and based on data from 16 different countries, confirms that the vast majority (95%) of recent cases were transmitted through sexual contact and that 98% of those affected were homosexual or bisexual men.
A worrying risk of stigmatization
“This mode of transmission represents both an opportunity to implement targeted public health interventions and a challenge, because in some countries, affected communities face life-threatening discrimination,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“There is real concern that men who have sex with men may be stigmatized or blamed for the rise in cases, making it that much harder to track and stop them,” he warned.
If the reason for not declaring a USPPI “is because it is restricted to the community of men who have sex with men, that is wrong and outrageous,” Professor Gostin tweeted.
Thousands of people already vaccinated in New York
On Friday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it had approved the use of a smallpox vaccine to expand its use against the spread of monkeypox. In fact, this vaccine is already used for this purpose in several countries, including France.
The Imvanex vaccine, from the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, has been approved in the EU since 2013 for the prevention of smallpox. The WHO recommends vaccinating people most at risk, as well as health workers who are likely to face the disease.
In New York, thousands of people have already been vaccinated with the Jynneos vaccine.
Source: BFM TV
