WHO to decide if monkeypox is now global health emergency

GENEVA • The World Health Organisation (WHO) reconvened its expert monkeypox committee yesterday to decide whether the outbreak now constitutes a global health emergency - the highest alarm it can sound.

A second meeting of the WHO's emergency committee on the virus was held to examine evidence on the worsening situation, with more than 14,000 cases reported from 71 countries this year.

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.

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.

But a majority advised WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the situation, at that point, had not met the threshold.

A second meeting has now been held, with case numbers rising and the virus spreading to six more countries in the past week.

If the committee advises Dr Tedros that the outbreak constitutes a global health emergency, it will propose temporary recommendations on how to better prevent and reduce the spread of the disease and manage the global public health response.

But there is no timetable for when the outcome will be made public.

Speaking at the opening of the emergency committee meeting yesterday, Dr Tedros said: "I remain concerned about the number of cases, in an increasing number of countries, that have been reported to WHO." He added: "I am acutely aware that any decision I take regarding the possible determination of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern involves the consideration of many factors, with the ultimate goal of protecting public health."

Dr Rosamund Lewis, the WHO's technical lead for monkeypox, told a press conference on Wednesday that 98 per cent of reported cases "are among men who have sex with men (MSM) - and primarily those who have multiple recent anonymous or new partners". She said they are typically of young age and chiefly in urban areas, according to the WHO.

Regardless of the committee's decision on the alert level, the "WHO will continue to do everything we can to support countries to stop transmission and save lives", Dr Tedros told the press conference on Wednesday.

"That's why WHO is continuing to work with patients and community advocates to develop and deliver information tailored to the affected communities," Dr Tedros said.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said the LGBTQ community was one of the most engaged and responsible, having worked hard over decades to combat HIV, "so therefore we have full confidence that this community can and will (engage), and is engaging very closely".

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.

Thailand's Health Ministry yesterday confirmed the country's first monkeypox infection in a 27-year-old Nigerian national in the southern island of Phuket.

Singapore's Ministry of Health last Friday reported the third local case of monkeypox, bringing the total number of cases reported here to six.

The latest patient is a 41-year-old male Singaporean.

In Germany, its vaccine advisory committee yesterday said it urgently recommended that the country use all the monkeypox vaccine it has on hand to administer first doses, and that second shots be offered only when enough doses are available.

"To mitigate the current wave of infection, slow the spread of monkeypox and eventually end the outbreak, a high vaccination coverage of the indication groups is needed," the committee said in a statement.

Germany has recorded some 2,110 cases of monkeypox so far, the committee said.

Meanwhile, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has been given authority to declare public health emergencies, which will help the agency to mobilise money and other resources.

The continent has reported 2,031 suspected cases of monkeypox in 10 countries.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG