WHO declares monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency after 5 deaths worldwide



The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency.

"I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Saturday morning during a briefing in Geneva.

Members of an expert committee met on Thursday to decide if the current monkeypox outbreak should be escalated to a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Of the virologists, vaccinologists, epidemiologists, and health experts, nine voted against declaring monkeypox a PHEIC, and six voted in favor, according to Reuters.

The International Health Regulations Emergency Committee were "resolved by consensus to advise the WHO Director-General that at this stage the outbreak should be determined to not constitute a PHEIC."

"However, the Committee unanimously acknowledged the emergency nature of the event and that controlling the further spread of outbreak requires intense response efforts," according to the WHO. "The Committee advised that the event should be closely monitored and reviewed after a few weeks, once more information about the current unknowns becomes available, to determine if significant changes have occurred that may warrant a reconsideration of their advice."

In the end, Ghebreyesus overrode the committee and declared monkeypox to be a public health emergency of international concern.

According to The Nation's Health website, "A PHEIC gives WHO authority to make formal recommendations to contain an outbreak. The declaration is intended to raise public awareness and can galvanize funding, expertise, and resources from other member nations, said Lawrence Gostin, JD, an international health law professor at Georgetown University."

ABC News noted that this is the seventh event declared a PHEIC by the WHO since 2007, "The other six include the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009; the Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2013 to 2015; the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2018 to 2020; the Zika outbreak in 2016; the ongoing spread of poliovirus that started in 2014; and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Library of Medicine."

\u201cNOW - WHO's Tedros: "I have decided that the global #monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern."\u201d
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Tedros stated, "Although I’m declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for the moment, this is an outbreak that’s concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners. That means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups."

The World Health Organization director-general added, "Stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been more than 16,000 global cases of monkeypox in 2022 in 74 countries.

There have been nearly 3,000 cases in the United States this year, according to the CDC. As of Wednesday, there were 679 cases of monkeypox in New York – 94% of them in New York City, according to state officials.

There have reportedly been a total of five deaths from monkeypox worldwide.

The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported, "Though the outbreak is heavily concentrated in Europe, the five deaths have been reported in African nations."

The Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority (BARDA) – which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – has purchased a total of 6.9 million monkeypox vaccines through mid-2023.

The WHO noted that monkeypox is a "viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe."

"Monkeypox primarily occurs in central and west Africa, often in proximity to tropical rainforests, and has been increasingly appearing in urban areas," the global health agency stated. "Animal hosts include a range of rodents and non-human primates."

World Health Organization will rename monkeypox to avoid stigma and racism



World Health Organization officials will meet in emergency session next week to evaluate the international outbreak of monkeypox and determine whether the virus should be considered a global health emergency. They will also rename the virus after scientists raised concerns that the name "monkeypox" is racist, officials said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday the U.N. health agency's emergency committee will meet on June 23 to discuss the outbreak, which he called "unusual and concerning."

"For that reason, I have decided to convene the Emergency Committee under the international Health Regulations next week, to assess whether this outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern," Tedros said during a media briefing.

The WHO director-general announced there have been more than 1,600 confirmed cases and nearly 1,500 suspected cases of monkeypox reported this year from 39 countries, including seven countries where the virus has been found before and 32 newly affected countries.

"So far this year, 72 deaths have been reported from previously affected countries. No deaths have been reported so far from the newly affected countries, although WHO is seeking to verify news reports from Brazil of a monkeypox-related death there," Tedros said.

"WHO's goal is to support countries, contain transmission, and stop the outbreak with tried-and-tested public health tools including surveillance, contact tracing, and isolation of infected patients," he added.

To that end, the WHO published interim guidance for public health agencies to follow. The guidance states that mass vaccination is not yet required or recommended for monkeypox and that smallpox or monkeypox vaccines should be used on a case-by-case basis after a full assessment of their potential risks and benefits for each patient.

"While smallpox vaccines are expected to provide some protection against monkeypox, there is limited clinical data and limited supply," Tedros said. "Any decision about whether to use vaccines should be made jointly by individuals who may be at risk and their health care provider, based on an assessment of risks and benefits, on a case-by-case basis."

The director-general added that the WHO is "working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of monkeypox virus, its clades and the disease it causes."

More than 30 international scientists wrote an open letter last week stating there was an "urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing" name for monkeypox. They argued that news reports referring to the virus as an "African" virus were discriminatory and stigmatizing. A WHO spokesperson told Bloomberg that the organization's guidelines recommend against using geographic regions and animal names to describe disease-causing pathogens.

Tedros said the name changes will be announced as soon as possible.

There have been 65 confirmed monkeypox cases in the United States as of June 13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A recent outbreak in Chicago was linked to the International Mr. Leather conference, a BDSM convention held between May 26 and 30.

International health experts have linked the spread of monkeypox to communities of men who have sex with men, but the virus is not a sexually transmitted disease. It is spread by skin-to-skin contact with someone who has monkeypox sores, as well as by direct contact with materials that have touched body fluids or sores, including clothing.

Joe Biden says 'everybody should be concerned' about the recent spread of monkeypox that is leaving experts clueless



On Sunday, President Joe Biden said the recent outbreak of monkeypox should concern “everybody,” as it continues to confuse medical experts around the world.

Fox News reported that while speaking with a group of reporters in South Korea before boarding Air Force One for Japan, Biden said, “Everybody should be concerned about [it].”

Biden’s remarks come as large monkeypox outbreaks were reported in Africa, with some cases also being reported in Europe and the U.S.

Biden said, “We’re working on it, hard to figure out what we do.”

There are currently 80 confirmed cases of the disease worldwide and at least 50 suspected cases. The U.S. has only currently confirmed two cases after a man in Massachusetts was diagnosed with the disease and a second man in New York City tested positive for it.

The man from Massachusetts is reported to have traveled to Canada before coming down with the disease.

Monkeypox cases have also been reported in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, and Australia. Reportedly, none of the people coming down with the disease have any travel history to Africa, where the virus is most present.

Oyewale Tomori, a virologist and World Health Organization (WHO) advisory board member, said, “I’m stunned by this. Every day I wake up, and there are more countries infected.”

The virologist noted that the seemingly large presence of monkeypox in Western countries among people who have not traveled to Africa is perplexing.

Tomori added, “This is not the kind of spread we’ve seen in West Africa, so there may be something new happening in the West.”

Christian Happi, the director of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, agreed with Tomori that monkeypox’s seemingly spontaneous emergence in the West is perplexing. He said he has “never seen anything like what’s happening in Europe.”

Although it is unlikely someone will die from the disease, WHO data estimates that monkeypox could be fatal for up to one-in-ten people. However, monkeypox’s similarity to smallpox may enable recipients of smallpox vaccines to receive some protection from the virus.

Reportedly, symptoms of monkeypox appear one to two weeks after the initial infection occurs and invovle flu-like symptoms including fever, headaches, and shortness of breath. After about five days of infection, a “skin eruption phase” begins when a rash starts to appear and often spreads to different areas of the infected person’s body.