WHO: Over 50,000 Monkeypox Cases, 16 Deaths Reported In 2022
According to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General, over 50,000 monkeypox cases, and 16 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) since the outbreak began earlier this year.
In his remarks at the ‘Monkeypox Outbreak: Virtual Dialogue Between Affected Communities and WHO Leadership’ in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday, Ghebreyesus said the number of cases reported this year eclipses the number reported since monkeypox was first identified in 1958 – although there has been significant underreporting in Africa.
He stated that until earlier this year, few people outside Africa and the public health community had even heard of monkeypox, “In just a few months, it has become a household word. Although mortality is thankfully very low, many of those infected report severe pain that sometimes requires hospitalisation to manage.”
WHO said the vast majority of cases – more than 95 percent, are among men who have sex with men, with a median age of 36. And among cases where Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) status is known, about 40 percent of reported monkeypox cases are among people who are also living with HIV.
However, Ghebreyesus said that more information is needed from more countries on how these conditions interact.
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On testing, he said only Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests are available, and many countries can’t access them but also that WHO is in touch with several manufacturers that are developing rapid tests, which would be a timely new tool.
Regarding treatment, Ghebreyesus said WHO holds a small reserve of the antiviral tecovirimat, which it will supply to countries on request for compassionate use, under certain circumstances.
He said WHO is also in discussions with SIGA Technologies over a donation of doses under a WHO protocol for ethical use of experimental treatments, “We’re working to ensure that as these antivirals are used, evidence is collected via clinical trials or standardised study designs to evaluate safety and efficacy in humans.”
“On vaccines, I was pleased, last week, that WHO’s Regional Office for the Americas signed an agreement with Bavarian Nordic to support access to that company’s vaccine in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We’re also in touch with Japan about a donation of approximately 100,000 vaccine doses for research, with the potential for donations in the future. It is encouraging to see progress, but there are clear challenges both in terms of production capacity and developing clinical evidence quickly.”
On the other hand, the latest figures from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that there have been 57 new suspected cases reported in week 32, 2022 from 19 states: Lagos (17), Ogun (six), Abia (five), Benue (three), Edo (three), Gombe (three), FCT (three), Rivers (three), Bayelsa (two), Borno (two), Ondo (two), Anambra (one), Cross River (one), Ekiti (one), Imo (one), Katsina (one), Nasarawa (one), Osun (one) and Oyo (one).
