Window closing to stop monkeypox spread, experts say

Scientists advising the World Health Organization (WHO) on monkeypox say the window is closing to stop its spread, with cases currently doubling every two weeks, raising concerns that it will take several months for the outbreak to peak.

WHO Europe has forecast just over 27,000 monkeypox cases in 88 countries by August 2, up from 17,800 cases in nearly 70 countries at the latest count.

Making predictions beyond that are complex, scientists around the world told Reuters, but there is likely to be sustained transmission for several months and possibly longer, they said.

“We have to get in front of this,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s clear the window of opportunity for doing so is closing,” added Rimoin, a member of the WHO expert committee on monkeypox that met last week to determine whether the outbreak constituted a global health emergency.

A majority of committee members voted against the move and, in an unprecedented step, WHO director-general Dr Tedros

Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared an emergency anyway.

Action stemming from that declaration needs to be urgent, including increased vaccination, testing, isolation for those infected and contact tracing, global health experts said.

New York asks WHO to rename monkeypox

New York City asked the World Health Organization on Tuesday to rename the monkeypox virus to avoid stigmatising patients who might then hold off on seeking care.

New York has seen more cases of the disease, which the WHO declared a global health emergency over the weekend, than any other city in the United States, with 1,092 infections detected so far.

“We have a growing concern for the potentially devastating and stigmatising effects that the messaging around the ‘monkeypox’ virus can have on... already vulnerable communities,” New York City public health commissioner Ashwin Vasan said in a letter to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus dated on Tuesday.

The WHO had floated the idea of changing the name of the virus during a press conference last month.