LONDON (AP) – The chief of the World Health Organization said the expanding monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries is an “extraordinary” situation that now qualifies as a global emergency, a declaration Saturday that could spur further investment in treating the once-rare disease and worsen the scramble for scarce vaccines.
***17,000 cases world-wide***
***16,000 cases since May***
***Can be spread by clothes, bedding, sex toys***
WHO’s top monkeypox expert, Dr Rosamund Lewis, said this week that 99% of all the monkeypox cases beyond Africa were in men and that of those, 98 per cent involved men who have sex with men. Experts suspect the monkeypox outbreaks in Europe and North America were spread via sex at two raves in Belgium and Spain.
After infecting nearly 3,000 people in the United States, two children have now contracted the monkeypox virus. The two children — an infant and a toddler — were on opposite coasts of the U.S. when diagnosed.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky disclosed the news that two children became infected with monkeypox this week, the Washington Postreported. During an interview with the Post, Walensky added that the two cases link to households “from the men who have sex with men community.” Investigations are ongoing to understand the connections to that community.
“Both of those children are traced back to individuals who come from the men-who-have-sex-with-men community, the gay men’s community,” Walensky told the newspaper in a virtual interview.