The World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to maintain the ‘mpox’ virus infection as an international public health emergency, despite the decline in the number of cases worldwide.
The decision was announced this Wednesday by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during the organization’s regular press video conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
On Friday, the WHO emergency committee met again to assess the situation and recommended that the international public health emergency, declared on July 23, 2022, be maintained for the ‘mpox’ epidemic.
“The committee informed me in its opinion that ‘mpox’ remains a global health emergency, and I accepted this advice”said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The WHO believes progress has been made as the spread of the virus has slowed on a global scale, but it is not enough to let our guard down.
“More than 30 countries continue to report cases of ‘mpox’, and the potential under-reporting of cases in certain regions is concerning, especially in countries where animal-to-human transmission of the virus has been reported” previously warned the director-general of the WHO.
Ghebreyesus urged countries to “remain vigilant” and “integrate prevention, preparedness and intervention services into national programs to combat, in particular, HIV/AIDS infection and other sexually transmitted diseases”.
Infection with the ‘mpox’ virus (formerly known as ‘monkey pox’) is endemic in certain West African countries, but has caused several outbreaks in Europe (including Portugal) and the United States since May 2022.
As of Tuesday (Feb. 14), 85,860 cases and 93 deaths from “mpox” had been reported to the World Health Organization in 110 countries.
The disease, which is transmitted between people through close physical contact, is manifested by a skin rash (which can appear on the genitals or in the mouth) accompanied by fever, sore throat or swelling of the lymph nodes, among other things.
Source: DN
