About 200 confirmed cases and over 100 suspected cases of monkey pox have been identified so far outside the countries where it usually spreadssaid today an official of the World Health Organization, calling the countries to increased vigilance of the infectious disease.
Monkey pox, a mild viral infection, is endemic to the African countries of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.
The recent outbreak in non-endemic countries has raised concerns. The strain that is circulating worldwide is believed to has a mortality rate of about 1%although effective vaccines and treatments are available.
Speaking during an online briefing, WHO senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerchove noted that so far cases have been identified in more than 20 non-endemic countriesadding that the Agency expects the numbers to increase.
“We expect more cases to be identified. We ask the countries to increase monitoring … This is a situation that can be reduced. “It will be difficult, but it is a situation that can be limited to non-endemic countries,” he said.
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