WHO triggers highest alert on monkeypox

New York has already either administered or scheduled 21,500 vaccines and hopes to speed up the process

The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak, which has affected nearly 17,000 people in 74 countries, to be a global health emergency -- the highest alarm it can sound.

"I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.

"WHO's assessment is that the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region where we assess the risk as high," he added.

Washington welcomed the WHO's declaration as "a call to action for the world community to stop the spread of this virus".

A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

Tedros has previously expressed concern that stigma and scapegoating could make the outbreak harder to track.

He urged all countries to "work closely with communities of men who have sex with men, to design and deliver effective information and services, and to adopt measures that protect" the communities affected.

On June 23, the WHO convened an emergency committee of experts to decide if monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern -- the UN health agency's highest alert level. 

The second meeting was called on Thursday with case numbers rising further, where Tedros said he was worried.

A viral infection resembling smallpox and first detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.

The European Union's drug watchdog on Friday recommended for approval the use of Imvanex, a smallpox vaccine, to treat monkeypox.

It was also considered a potential vaccine for monkeypox because of the similarity between the monkeypox virus and the smallpox virus.  

Rashes subsequently appear on the face, palms of hands and soles of the feet, followed by lesions, spots and finally scabs.

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