More cases of the monkeypox virus that has recently emerged may be identified worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday.
As of Saturday, 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported from 12 member states that are not endemic to the virus, the United Nations agency said, adding it will provide further guidance and recommendations in coming days for countries on how to mitigate its spread.
"Available information suggests that human-to-human transmission is occurring among people in close physical contact with cases who are symptomatic," the agency added.
Monkeypox is an infectious disease that is usually mild and is endemic in parts of west and central Africa. It is spread by close contact, so it can be relatively easily contained through such measures as self-isolation and proper hygiene.
"What seems to be happening now is that it has got into the population as a sexual form, as a genital form, and is being spread as are sexually transmitted infections, which has amplified its transmission around the world," WHO official David Heymann, an infectious disease specialist, told Reuters.
Heymann said an international committee of experts met via videoconference to look at what needed to be studied about the outbreak and communicated to the public, including whether there is any asymptomatic spread, who are at most risk and the various routes of transmission.
He said the meeting was convened "because of the urgency of the situation." The committee is not the group that would suggest declaring a public health emergency of international concern, the WHO's highest form of alert, which applies to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said close contact was the key transmission route, as lesions typical of the disease are very infectious. For example, parents caring for sick children are at risk as are health workers, which is why some countries have started inoculating teams treating monkeypox patients using vaccines for smallpox, a related virus.
Many of the current cases have been identified at sexual health clinics.
Early genomic sequencing of a handful of the cases in Europe has suggested a similarity with the strain that spread in a limited fashion in Britain, Israel and Singapore in 2018.
Heymann said it was "biologically plausible" the virus had been circulating outside of the countries where it is endemic, but had not led to major outbreaks as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns, social distancing and travel restrictions.
He stressed that the monkeypox outbreak did not resemble the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic because it does not transmit as easily. Those who suspect they may have been exposed or who show symptoms including bumpy rash and fever, should avoid close contact with others, he said.
"There are vaccines available, but the most important message is, you can protect yourself," he added.
"The identification of confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox without any travel history to an endemic area in multiple countries is atypical, hence, there is an urgent need to raise awareness about monkeypox and undertake comprehensive case finding and isolation (provided with supportive care), contact tracing and supportive care to limit further onward transmission," the U.N. organization said in Geneva on Saturday night.
From the WHO's point of view, travel restrictions or cancelations of events in affected countries are not necessary at present.
Although the organization pointed out that infections can occur at mass events, it also emphasized that precautionary measures against COVID-19 are also effective against monkeypox.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Sunday that recent cases of monkeypox that have been identified in Europe and the United States were something "to be concerned about.”
In his first public comments on the disease, Biden added: "It is a concern in that if it were to spread it would be consequential."
The president was asked about the disease as he spoke to reporters at Osan Air Base in South Korea, where he visited troops before taking off for Japan to continue his first trip to Asia as president.
"They haven’t told me the level of exposure yet but it is something that everybody should be concerned about,” Biden said. He added that work was underway to determine what vaccine might be effective.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, told reporters aboard the flight to Tokyo that the United States has a supply of "vaccine that is relevant to treating monkeypox.”
"We have vaccine available to be deployed for that purpose,” he said. Sullivan said Biden was getting regular updates on the outbreak.
