Monkeypox: What WHO has to say

As monkeypox continues to spread globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) experts have come out to explain the risk factors associated with the virus, during a Facebook live session on Monday.

According to the WHO Technical Lead for monkeypox, Rosamund Lewis, close contact with monkeypox patients is the most significant risk factor for monkeypox virus infection, adding that the virus is moving into older populations, even in the endemic setting.

Also, she said it was critical to emphasize that the vast majority of cases being seen in dozens of countries globally are gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men so that scientists can further study the issue and for populations at risk to take precautions.

“It’s very important to describe this because it appears to be an increase in a mode of transmission that may have been under-recognized in the past,”

She added that measures to curtail the further spread of the virus should be taken before it reaches more vulnerable people and makes itself a replacement for smallpox in the broader population.

“Health workers, doctors, nurses and health authorities, governments need to realize this is something they need to work on. Get tested, train health workers and raise awareness, so that the occurring cases can be detected quickly and so that transmission and for the spread can be stopped, that is the objective,” she said.

– Lilian Elijah