The monkeypox outbreak that was recently reported in the United Kingdom has now been recorded in Belgium, France, and Germany, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to call an emergency meeting to discuss potential next steps.
The Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology in Munch, Germany, said that a patient in the state of Bavaria has been found to be infected with monkeypox. A spokesperson for the global health agency said that the meeting of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemweb and Endemic Potential was one of several that were happening daily.
Monkeypox Outbreak
The three nations confirmed on Friday their first cases of the infection, becoming the latest European countries to record cases of the disease. In the past week alone, officials from Australia, Britain, Canada, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United States have reported having cases of monkeypox.
Authorities said that the case from Germany was registered on Thursday where the patient was found to have exhibited symptoms of skin lesions, which is a major characteristic of the disease. After the announcement, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said that it was only a matter of time" before the outbreak reached the region, as per DW News.
On the other hand, the French case was found in a 29-year-old man in the Ile-de-France region and authorities claimed that the man had not recently been in a country where the virus had been spreading. Belgium also reported two cases in the northern Dutch-speaking region of Flanders.
On Friday, the United Kingdom detected 11 new cases of the disease, said the region's Health Secretary Sajid Javid. Monkeypox is a virus that is known to have originated in Africa where authorities first identified it in monkeys that were being researched.
According to Reuters, despite the sudden outbreak, scientists are not expecting the monkeypox surge to evolve into something similar to the coronavirus pandemic, given that it is not as transmissible as the recent infection.
WHO's Health Response
Germany's armed forces' medical service, which was the one that detected the first case in the region on Friday, said that the current situation is the largest and most widespread outbreak of monkeypox ever seen in Europe.
Robert Koch Institute's Fabian Leendertz described the recent monkeypox outbreak as an epidemic. The health professional also said that it was unlikely for the surge to last long as cases can be well isolated via contact tracing and the use of drugs and effective vaccines can stifle the spread.
Monkeypox is known to spread by close contact and respiratory droplets but it can also transfer to other hosts via sexual transmission. Rosamund Lewis, an epidemiologist who is WHO's lead for poxvirus diseases, said that the situation was not typical at all.
The health expert warned that people should definitely be concerned about the new development which has rapidly expanded in the last five days. The health agency's meeting discussed developing recommendations including everything from the need for more aggressive surveillance to the immediate use of monkeypox vaccines, Science reported.
Related Article:
Possible Monkeypox Case in New York Detected; Here's How To Spot Symptoms
