MonkeyPox Virus Drops A Bombshell, Spreads To Over 20 Countries

Written By: Aashish Vashistha

May 27, 2022 (New Delhi): After the rapid spread of the MonkeyPox Virus, The global health body, World Health Organisation (WHO) has appealed nations to increase surveillance of the infectious disease as outbreaks grow across the world. Actually, The monkeypox virus has spread to more than 20 countries, with about 200 confirmed cases and over 100 suspected cases in nations where it is typically not found, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The global health body has also appealed nations to increase surveillance of the infectious disease as the outbreak grow.

According to Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, more cases of the rare viral illness will likely be reported as surveillance expands, but added that the recent spread is containable, CNBC reported. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control states that, The European Union (EU) has confirmed 118 cases of monkeypox. Spain and Portugal have reported the largest outbreaks in the EU with 51 and 37 cases, respectively. The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed 90 cases of the virus. This is a ‘early warning signal’ for many western nations.

According to WHO technical lead, “We expect more cases to be detected. We are asking countries to increase surveillance,” Van Kerkhove said during a Q&A on the global health agency’s social media platforms. “This is a containable situation. It will be difficult, but it’s a containable situation in non-endemic countries”. Since the first reported case on May 7, from the UK, monkeypox has spread to North America and Europe in recent weeks. The outbreak is driven by a milder West African strain of the virus and most patients recover in a few weeks. No deaths have been reported so far. But the whole scenario is creating a lot of challenges for the medical and government sectors of every country to cope up with the upcoming challenges of the virus.