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The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed more than 80 cases of monkeypox and announced the start of a work protocol with the affected countries, more than a dozen according to estimates by the UN agency, when it comes to improving “their understanding of the scope and causes of the disease”.
The agency is also aware of fifty additional cases pending confirmation of this virus, which it describes as “endemic in the animal populations of several countries.” However, he admits that the outbreaks found in eleven countries – twelve counting Switzerland, which this Saturday confirmed its first case after the publication of this statement – constitute an “atypical” circumstance because they occur in “non-endemic” places.
Monkeypox spreads differently than coronavirus, sow under close contact”.
WHO
“People who have had close interaction with someone affected have a higher risk of contagion. This population includes health workers, family members or sexual partners”, indicates the WHO.
Monkeypox occurs in Central and West Africa, often near jungles tropical, and is considered endemic to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first discovered in humans in 1970.
Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and fatigue. Skin rashes can also appear on the face and other parts of the body. The mortality rate of monkeypox outbreaks usually ranges from 1% to 05 %, according to the WHO, and the majority of deaths occur in the younger age groups.
Versus the information that points to a special incidence of contagion among the homosexual population, the agency considers it “unacceptable” that groups of people end up “stigmatized” and describes this behavior as a “barrier to stop the outbreak of any disease”.
“The risk of becoming infected with monkeypox is not limited to sexually active people or men who have sex with men. Anyone who has close physical contact with someone infected is at risk”, adds the organization.
Discrimination “can prevent affected people from seeking care and cause an undetected spread”, concludes the organization.
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