WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was particularly concerned about the risk the virus poses to vulnerable groups, including pregnant women, children and people with weakened immunity due to other health conditions
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June 09, 2022 14:15:38 IST
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. AP
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday said that more than a thousand cases of monkeypox infection have been confirmed from as many as 29 countries around the globe.
“The risk of monkeypox becoming established in non-endemic countries is real,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference.
The zoonotic disease (infectious diseases spread between animals and people) is endemic in humans in nine African countries but cases have been reported in the past month in several other states — mostly in Europe, and notably in Britain, Spain and Portugal.