BREAKING! 112 New Confirmed Cases Of Monkeypox Globally In the Last 24 Hours Bringing Total To 1350. WHO Warns Of “Real” Risk!

Monkeypox News: In the last 24 hours, a total of 112 new monkeypox cases was confirmed, bringing the total number of monkeypox cases globally that are outside the African continent to 1350. More alarmingly, thousands are now being investigated with a huge backlog in labs in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Germany and even Canada. In many of these countries, from the time a suspected monkeypox cases is reported to getting a diagnosis via official testing takes between 48 to 72 hours! This helps the spread of the disease as many of these individuals are not made to quarantine while pending test results!


 
The United Kingdom leads with 322 cases, Spain with 267 cases, Portugal with 199 cases, Germany with 131 cases, France 66 cases and Netherlands with 54 cases.
 
The United States now has 40 confirmed cases with hundreds more suspected cases now being investigated and screened while Canada has 119 cases with another 827 individuals being investigated.

In the United States, the 40 confirmed cases are spread in 12 states ie California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Washington. California has the most cases to date.

Monkeypox is now found in 37 countries outside the African continent. Strangely, no cases have been detected in Asia to date.
 
Health authorities are keeping a watch on countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Canada and the United States where cases are expected to rise exponentially as it is suspected that many cases in these countries are going undiscovered and that the disease is spreading silently in various communities.
 
In the United States, it was discovered that many who suspect that they might have the disease are crossing the border to seek treatments in Mexico as they do not want to be stigmatized in their own country.
 
In one case, authorities in Mexico reported on Wednesday a US citizen with monkeypox escaped from a hospital in a Mexican resort and fled the country.
 
Monkeypox News reports said that the 48-year-old man, originally from Texas, fled the hospital in Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific coast last weekend despite having been told by medical staff that he should be tested for monkeypox and kept in isolation, the state health department said in a statement.
 
Mexican health authorities said that when he arrived at the hospital, the patient had symptoms of "cough, chills, muscle pain and pustule-like lesions on his face, neck and trunk.”
 
Upon fleeing the medical facility, the Texan then went to the hotel where he was staying with his partner and caught a flight out of Puerto Vallarta on June 4, before authorities were able to locate him.
 
Officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to Mexican authorities on Monday that the patient had returned to the United States where a test confirmed he had monkeypox.
 
Prior to arriving in Puerto Vallarta on May 27, the individual was in Berlin, Germany, between May 12 and 16, and subsequently in Dallas, Texas.

During his stay in Mexico, he attended parties at the Mantamar Beach Club in the resort town of Jalisco.
 
Officials urged anyone who attended the club between May 27 and June 4 to monitor their health.
 
Meanwhile the World Health Organization said Wednesday that it was aware of more than 1,300 cases of monkeypox in countries where the disease is not endemic.
 
The WHO warned on Wednesday that the risk of monkeypox becoming established in non-endemic nations is real, , with more than a thousand cases now confirmed in such countries.
 
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization said the UN health agency was not recommending mass vaccination against the virus, and added that no deaths had been reported so far from the outbreaks.
 
He told media during a press conference, "The risk of monkeypox becoming established in non-endemic countries is real.”
 
To date, the zoonotic disease is endemic in humans in nine African countries but outbreaks have been reported in the past month in several other states, mostly in Europe, and notably in Britain, Spain and Portugal.
 
He added, “Cases have been reported mainly, but not only, among men who have sex with men. Some countries are now beginning to report cases of apparent community transmission, including some cases in women."
 
He said he was particularly concerned about the risk the virus poses to vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children.
 
Tedros said the sudden and unexpected appearance of monkeypox outside endemic countries suggested that there might have been undetected transmission for some time, but it was not known for how long.
 
One case of monkeypox in a non-endemic country is considered an outbreak.

Tedros said that while this was "clearly concerning", the virus had been circulating and killing in Africa for decades, with more than 1,400 suspected cases and 66 deaths so far this year.
 
Tedros added, "The communities that live with the threat of this virus every day deserve the same concern, the same care and the same access to tools to protect themselves.”
 
It was reported that in the few places where vaccines are available, they are being used to protect those who may be exposed, such as healthcare workers.
 
Tedros added that post-exposure vaccination, ideally within four days, could be considered for higher-risk close contacts, such as sexual partners or household members.
 
He said the WHO would issue guidance in the coming days on clinical care, infection prevention and control, vaccination and community protection.
 
He added that people with symptoms should isolate at home and consult a health worker, while people in the same household should avoid close contact.

Few hospitalizations have been reported, apart from patients being isolated, the WHO said at the weekend.

The WHO's epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director, Sylvie Briand, said the smallpox vaccine could be used against monkeypox, a fellow orthopoxvirus, with a high degree of efficacy.
 
It was reported that the WHO is trying to determine how many doses are currently available and to find out from manufacturers what their production and distribution capacities are.
 
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