At least 5,322 cases of monkeypox are confirmed in the laboratory in the current outbreak of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, specifying that 85% of the infections have been registered in Europe, the region so far most affected by the disease.
The number of cases represents an increase of more than 50% compared to the previous evaluation.
Despite the increase in cases, so far, the disease has caused only one death, the UN health agency said.
Geographical distribution
At a press conference in Geneva, the WHO spokeswoman explained the geographical distribution of the outbreak.
“85% of the cases are in Europe. It is followed by the region of Africa, America, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Pacific”, explained Fadela Chaib.
The spokeswoman warned that the number of cases had increased considerably in recent days.
The last report on the disease, dated June 30, recorded 3,413 cases, which means that in just one week, an increase of 55.9% was documented.
limit the spread
While most of the identified cases have so far occurred among men who have sex with men, “other vulnerable groups are also at high risk,” Chaib said.
“Some cases have been reported in children and in people who have a compromised immune system,” the spokeswoman added.
After the meeting of its Emergency Committee on June 23, in which it was determined that monkeypox does not represent a public health emergency of international concern, the World Health Organization has not scheduled a second deliberation despite the progress of cases.
However, the agency is carefully monitoring the situation and “continues to ask countries to pay special attention to cases of monkeypox, in an attempt to curb new infections,” concluded Fadela Chaib.
Most of the time, monkeypox is transmitted by close interpersonal contact, but there are other modes of transmission, such as rashes on the skin, eyes, mouth, and mucous membranes around the genital area.