The World Health Organisation has declared the monkeypox outbreak in more than 50 countries as a global health emergency.
The global health organisation noted that it activated its highest alert level for the growing monkeypox outbreak, making the virus a public health emergency of international concern.
Monkeypox, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease (infection transmitted from animals to humans) that is endemic in areas in and near tropical rainforests in Central and West Africa.
“It is caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the same Orthopoxvirus genus and Poxviridae family of viruses as the Variola virus (smallpox virus), the Vaccinia virus (used in smallpox vaccine for eradication programme), and the cowpox virus (used in earlier generations of smallpox vaccines) and some other viruses.
While addressing journalists, the WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, noted that the decision to declare monkeypox as a global health emergency came as a result of the rise in cases of the virus.
“Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for the moment this is an outbreak that is 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. We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little.
“For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” Ghebreyesus said.
Globally, no fewer than 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported across more than 70 countries this year, and the number of confirmed infections rose 77% from late June through early July, according to WHO data.
Reports from Nigeria, according to the NCDC, confirmed 101 cases of monkeypox in 2022, its highest figure since 2017 when the disease re-emerged.
An ongoing outbreak of the viral disease was confirmed in May 2022, beginning with a cluster of cases found in the United Kingdom.From May 18 onwards, cases were reported from an increasing number of countries and regions, predominantly in Europe, but also in North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.As of July 23, there have been a total of 17,186 confirmed cases.
Since the beginning of 2022, 72 deaths were reported, all in Africa.
Punch/Olaolu Fawole
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