WHO calls emergency meeting as monkeypox cases rise
STORY: The World Health Organization called an emergency meeting to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox – a viral infection that has now spread to several countries in Europe, as well as to the United States, Canada and Australia.
Over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe on Friday, in what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever.
Dr. Theresa Tam is Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer.
“It’s unusual for the world to see this many cases reported in different countries outside of Africa. [FLASH] I think at the beginning of any outbreak we should cast the net wide to try to understand the transmission routes – we don’t understand it enough. There’s probably been some hidden chains of transmission that could have occurred for quite a number of weeks, given the global situation that we’re seeing right now.”
First identified in monkeys, monkeypox is more common to west and central Africa. Symptoms include fever, headaches and skin rashes.
The disease typically spreads through close contact, including respiratory droplets, infected secretions or even contaminated clothing.
While many cases have been found among men who have sex with other men, Dr. Tam cautioned against focusing on any particular group of individuals.
“I think people should understand that it’s close contact – and that could happen in different ways. Households – we heard households in the United Kingdom.”
But unlike COVID-19, the risk to the general public is low, says infectious diseases expert Dr. Amesh Adalja.
“There’s a danger of viewing every further infectious disease outbreak through the lens of COVID-19. And you have to draw distinctions between a virus like SARS-CoV-2 and a virus like monkeypox, which spread in a totally different way, from totally different viral families. Monkeypox is a virus for which we have medical countermeasures, for which we’ve dealt with outbreaks in the past – it’s not a novel pathogen, and it doesn’t spread efficiently like SARS-CoV-2.”
There is no specific vaccine for monkeypox, but the WHO says that vaccines that were used to eradicate smallpox are up to 85% effective against the disease.
相關影片推薦
- 1:48富邦陳金鋒總教練上前抗議判決 遭驅逐出場中華職棒大聯盟影音18,118 次觀看・16 小時前
- 1:30雲林上千顆西瓜遭"割藤" 農民氣炸痛罵"沒天理民視影音16,001 次觀看・1 天前
- 2:47唐綺陽運勢 / 本週星座運勢:4/22~4/28一周星象預報!適逢節氣交替,多注意身體健康!唐綺陽談星室11,125 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:48嘉義2診所醫師涉詐領健保 2醫師各50萬交保華視影音25,738 次觀看・19 小時前
- 2:54巴黎奧運倒數 盤點多國隊服 法國開幕超「紳士」、日本「低碳」亮相Yahoo奇摩(國際通)16,648 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:045/1確定無法全國放假! 「非勞工」仍要上班華視影音183,489 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:40陳致遠夫婦被「落石砸車」 驚險畫面曝光|#鏡新聞鏡新聞110,767 次觀看・22 小時前
- 6:11強震來臨這3個縣市最危險 李鴻源曝災防都更因「票房毒藥」難行今天誰來沛298,658 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:46嘉義兒科名醫與連襟聯手涉詐健保費 10年詐領百萬TVBS新聞網影音1,929 次觀看・16 小時前
- 2:01搶爆!台積電美廠徵水電工 台師傅:超心動東森新聞影音2,471 次觀看・16 小時前