Monkeypox cases rose 20% to 35,000 in 92 countries last week, according to WHO

According to the World Health Organization, monkeypox continues to spread around the world, with cases up 20% last week.

According to WHO data, infections have increased by nearly 7,500 in 92 countries, with a total of more than 35,000 cases, with almost all reported cases occurring in Europe and the Americas. Twelve deaths have been reported so far.

According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the overwhelming majority of patients are still men who have sex with men. Data on its efficacy in outbreaks are sparse, Tedros said. Jynneos is manufactured by Danish biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic.

“We continue to be concerned that the inequitable access to vaccines seen during the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to leave the poorest behind,” Tedros said at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

Data on vaccine efficacy are limited, but there are reports of landmark cases in which people who have been injected after being exposed to the virus are still sick, and after receiving the vaccine as a preventative measure Some have been infected. Rosamund Lewis, WHO’s monkeypox technical leader.

Monkeypox vaccine can be given after exposure to reduce the risk of serious illness or before exposure to reduce the risk of infection.

“We knew from the beginning that this vaccine was not a silver bullet, that it would not meet all expectations, and that in this setting there were no solid efficacy or effectiveness data,” Lewis told reporters.

These reports aren’t surprising, Lewis said, but the importance of individuals taking other precautions, such as reducing the number of sexual partners and avoiding group or casual sex during the current outbreak. It’s also important to know that your immune system doesn’t peak until two weeks after your second dose, she said.

“We’ll have to wait until the vaccine produces the maximum immune response, but we don’t yet know what the overall effect will be,” Lewis said. A smallpox vaccine was found to be 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. Gynneos was approved in the US in 2019 to treat both smallpox and monkeypox, which belong to the same virus family.

“The fact that we are starting to see some breakthrough cases is also very important information as it shows that vaccines are not 100% effective in certain situations.

The WHO has observed several mutations in the monkeypox virus, but it is not clear what these changes mean for the behavior of the pathogen and how it affects the human immune response.

The first known case of an animal catching monkeypox from a human in the current outbreak was recently reported in Paris. A pet dog was infected by a couple infected with the virus. The couple reported sharing a bed with their dog. Public health officials advise people with monkeypox to keep their pets away.

Infected pets are neither uncommon nor unexpected, said Dr Mike Ryan, director of the WHO’s Health Emergency Programme. Dr Sylvie Briand, the WHO’s pandemic response chief, said this does not mean that dogs can transmit the virus to humans.

Lewis said there was a theoretical risk that rodents would rummage through the garbage and catch the virus, and it was important to properly manage the waste to avoid infecting animals outside of human households. . Historically, monkeypox has been transmitted to people in West and Central Africa from rodents and other small mammals.

“What we don’t want to see is a disease that moves from one species to another and stays in that species,” Ryan said. Hygiene risk may occur.

“I don’t think the virus evolves faster in one dog than in one human,” he said.