International UN health agency convening experts meeting to decide if mpox outbreak in Africa is global emergency

[LeonardoBjj]

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday he will convene an expert group to determine if the increasing spread of the mpox virus in Africa warrants being declared a global emergency.

At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that given the increasing spread of mpox cases beyond Congo, he has decided to ask independent experts to advise WHO “as soon as possible.”

Last week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has now been detected in 10 African countries this year including Congo, which has more than 96% of all cases and deaths. Compared with the same time period last year, the agency said cases are up 160% and deaths have jumped by 19%.

Officials at the Africa CDC said nearly 70% of cases in Congo are in children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths.

Mpox was reported last week in Burundi and Rwanda for the first time while other countries including Kenya and the Central African Republic also identified cases.

WHO’s Tedros said the agency has released $1 million from its emergency fund to support the response to mpox, also known as monkeypox.

Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of the deadlier version of mpox, which can kill up 10% of people, in a Congolese mining town that they feared might spread more easily among people. Mpox spreads via close contact with infected people, including via sex.

In 2022, WHO declared mpox to be a global emergency after it spread to more than 70 countries, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men. Before that outbreak, the disease had mostly been seen in sporadic epidemics in central and West Africa when people came into contacted with infected animals.

Western countries mostly shut down the spread of mpox with the help of vaccines and treatments, but very few of those have been available in Africa.

Maria Van Kerkhove, who leads WHO’s outbreak department, said there were numerous concerning issues in Africa’s mpox epidemic and called for a more urgent response.

“We do not want the world to sit and watch and wait,” she said. “The time (to act) is now.”

https://apnews.com/article/who-mpox-outbreak-experts-meeting-6fbd377ba1a9f3b2e344673978ff47c7

 

[deviake]

Delight of delights. I hope they get it contained, and soon, would be nice to see western governments help out with that.

On the plus side, nice Resident Evil image.

 

[oski]

The head of the World Health Organization said... called for a more urgent response.

me:

wr regs:

 

[Osculater]

The Monkey Pox? I'm cool I ain't teh ghey

 

[LeonardoBjj]

The Monkey Pox? I'm cool I ain't teh ghey

- We all say that before going on a vacation with the Bros!

 

[Osculater]

- We all say that before going on a vacation with the Bros!

 

[nonoob]

Next thing ya know, they'll say these might happen on US election years.

 

[Osculater]

Next thing ya know, they'll say these might happen on US election years.

I'm already prepped up with my hazmat suits

 

[LeonardoBjj]

A deadly new strain of mpox is raising alarm​

Health officials warn it could soon spread beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo​

Mpox is a viral infection typically found in parts of Africa and spread through contact with infected animals as well as within households. It causes severe fever, flu-like symptoms and a rash of pus-filled blisters across the body. In 2022 the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, spread around the world—cases turned up everywhere from Nigeria to America and Australia.

A newly discovered strain of the virus, described by some researchers as the most dangerous yet, now threatens to spread beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo into neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

Although much remains unknown about this strain, Jean Claude Udahemuka, a lecturer at the University of Rwanda who has been studying the outbreak, reports fatality rates of approximately 5% in adults and 10% in children. The virus exhibits different transmission patterns and disproportionately affects children. On June 25th the World Health Organisation emphasised the urgent need to deal with the surge of mpox cases in Africa.

The mpox outbreak in 2022 was caused by a different, and less severe form of the virus of the type “clade II”. The new strain was first identified in April in Kamituga, a gold-mining town in Congo’s South Kivu province. Researchers discovered it was a new lineage of the virus, distinct from previously known mpox strains, which they called “clade Ib”. The clade Ib strain has reportedly mutated to become more efficient at human-to-human transmission.

This is causing concern about its potential for broader spread. Mpox has been circulating in humans for many years but it also exists in wild animals in several African countries and occasionally jumps to humans, for example through the consumption of bushmeat.

Unlike the mpox outbreak in 2022, which was driven by male-to-male sexual contact, the new strain is spreading through heterosexual contact, particularly among sex workers, who account for about 30% of recorded cases.

Researchers estimate that the outbreak began around mid-September 2023. As of May 26th, 7,851 mpox cases and 384 deaths have been reported in Congo (though it is unclear how many are clade Ib infections, as there is likely to be more than one outbreak going on in the country).

In Congo the new strain is behaving quite differently from other strains of mpox, with cases also suggesting transmission through close (non-sexual) contact. Dr Udahemuka reports instances of household transmission as well as an outbreak in a school. It is also just as common in women as in men, and is reported to be causing miscarriages. The risk of international spread appears to be high, with the strain detected in towns near national borders. The new strain has also been found in sex workers from Rwanda and Uganda, a group that is normally quite mobile. With the arrival of the dry season facilitating greater migration, experts fear it is only a matter of time before the virus starts to emerge in neighbouring countries and then spreads worldwide through close contact at international airports.

In April the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention called for an increase in surveillance and contact-tracing efforts. Some experts suggest it would be worth deploying the smallpox vaccine among high-risk groups such as sex workers and health-care workers, as it has been known in the past to offer cross-protection against mpox, which is a related virus. However, the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine against this new strain remains unknown.

Trudie Lang, a professor of global-health research at the University of Oxford, suggests that although there are uncertainties, the vaccine is safe, easy to use and worth trying. There are also trials under way of an antiviral drug known as tecovirimat, with results expected next year.

The situation in the region is complicated by war, displacement and food insecurity. Containment efforts are made harder still by the likelihood of asymptomatic cases, where individuals do not know they are infected but can nevertheless spread the virus to others. Dr Lang emphasises that this, along with the number of mild cases of the infection, are the biggest unknowns in the current outbreak. Preventing this new mpox strain from becoming another global health crisis requires swift and co-ordinated action. ■

https://www.economist.com/science-a...qYX_PSpgeXNH5KIZAwBoCCLEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[idrankyourbeer's maid]

Biden’s monkeypox adviser is trying manage a virus while dodging talk of Satanism​

Loading…

www.politico.com

 

[idrankyourbeer's maid]

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

 

[LeonardoBjj]

WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads​

BY MARIA CHENG
Updated 3:20 PM BRT, August 14, 2024

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent.

Earlier this week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the mpox outbreaks were a public health emergency, with more than 500 deaths, and called for international help to stop the virus’ spread.

“This is something that should concern us all ... The potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Africa CDC previously said mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 countries this year, and more than 96% of all cases and deaths are in Congo. Cases are up 160% and deaths are up 19% compared with the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 people have died.

“We are now in a situation where (mpox) poses a risk to many more neighbors in and around central Africa,” said Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious diseases expert who chairs the Africa CDC emergency group. He said the new version of mpox spreading from Congo appears to have a death rate of about 3-4%.

In 2022, WHO declared mpox to be a global emergency after it spread to more than 70 countries that had not previously reported mpox, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men. In that outbreak, fewer than 1% of people died.

Michael Marks, a professor of medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said declaring these latest mpox outbreaks in Africa an emergency is warranted if that might lead to more support to contain them.

“It’s a failure of the global community that things had to get this bad to release the resources needed,” he said.

Officials at the Africa CDC said nearly 70% of cases in Congo are in children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths.

Jacques Alonda, an epidemiologist working in Congo with international charities, said he and other experts were particularly worried about the spread of mpox in camps for refugees in the country’s conflict-ridden east.

“The worst case I’ve seen is that of a six-week-old baby who was just two weeks old when he contracted mpox,” Alonda said, adding the baby has been in their care for a month. “He got infected because hospital overcrowding meant he and his mother were forced to share a room with someone else who had the virus, which was undiagnosed.”

Save the Children said Congo’s health system already had been “collapsing” under the strain of malnutrition, measles and cholera.

The U.N. health agency said mpox was recently identified for the first time in four East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. All of those outbreaks are linked to the one in Congo. In Ivory Coast and South Africa, health authorities have reported outbreaks of a different and less dangerous version of mpox that spread worldwide in 2022.

Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of the deadlier form of mpox, which can kill up to 10% of people, in a Congolese mining town that they feared might spread more easily. Mpox mostly spreads via close contact with infected people, including through sex.

Unlike in previous mpox outbreaks, where lesions were mostly seen on the chest, hands and feet, the new form causes milder symptoms and lesions on the genitals. That makes it harder to spot, meaning people might also sicken others without knowing they’re infected.

Before the 2022 outbreak, the disease had mostly been seen in sporadic outbreaks in central and West Africa when people came into close contact with infected wild animals.

Western countries during the 2022 outbreak mostly shut down the spread of mpox with the help of vaccines and treatments, but very few of those have been available in Africa.

Marks of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that in the absence of mpox vaccines licensed in the West, officials could consider inoculating people against smallpox, a related disease. “We need a large supply of vaccine so that we can vaccinate populations most at risk,” he said, adding that would mean sex workers, children and adults living in outbreak regions.

Congo hasn’t received any of the mpox vaccines it has requested.

Congolese authorities said they have asked for 4 million doses, Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee, told The Associated Press. Kacita Osako said those would mostly be used for children under 18.

“The United States and Japan are the two countries that positioned themselves to give vaccines to our country,” Kacita Osako said.

Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a Nigerian mpox expert who chaired WHO’s emergency committee, said there were still significant gaps in understanding how mpox is spreading in Africa. He called for stronger surveillance to track the outbreaks.

“We’re working blindly when we’re not able to test all suspected cases,” Ogoina said.

Although WHO’s emergency declaration is meant to spur donor agencies and countries into action, the global response to previous declarations has been mixed.

Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an infectious diseases expert at Emory University, said the last WHO emergency declaration for mpox “did very little to move the needle” on getting things like diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines to Africa.

“The world has a real opportunity here to act in a decisive manner and not repeat past mistakes, (but) that will take more than an (emergency) declaration,” Titanji said.

https://apnews.com/article/who-mpox-africa-health-emergency-cc9bdf31b49d06bec5efd44fb55d5e42

 

[Sage NorthGOAT]

Biden’s monkeypox adviser is trying manage a virus while dodging talk of Satanism​

Loading…

www.politico.com

Sitting in a coffee shop a couple of blocks from the White House on a Friday afternoon, Demetre Daskalakis is crying.

His iced coffee with almond milk sits on the table, melting and mostly untouched. “Jeez, I’m not supposed to cry in front of POLITICO,” he laughs.

Fuck yeah, im gonna go make that right now. Its too hot for hetero coffee

 

[The_Renaissance]

Ah, the gay STD is back. Course it is. They just cannot let it go, they pivot from virus to virus trying to get traction again and activate the scared cultist cell into obedience again

 

[Osculater]

A deadly new strain of mpox is raising alarm​

Health officials warn it could soon spread beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo​

Mpox is a viral infection typically found in parts of Africa and spread through contact with infected animals as well as within households. It causes severe fever, flu-like symptoms and a rash of pus-filled blisters across the body. In 2022 the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, spread around the world—cases turned up everywhere from Nigeria to America and Australia.

A newly discovered strain of the virus, described by some researchers as the most dangerous yet, now threatens to spread beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo into neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

Although much remains unknown about this strain, Jean Claude Udahemuka, a lecturer at the University of Rwanda who has been studying the outbreak, reports fatality rates of approximately 5% in adults and 10% in children. The virus exhibits different transmission patterns and disproportionately affects children. On June 25th the World Health Organisation emphasised the urgent need to deal with the surge of mpox cases in Africa.

The mpox outbreak in 2022 was caused by a different, and less severe form of the virus of the type “clade II”. The new strain was first identified in April in Kamituga, a gold-mining town in Congo’s South Kivu province. Researchers discovered it was a new lineage of the virus, distinct from previously known mpox strains, which they called “clade Ib”. The clade Ib strain has reportedly mutated to become more efficient at human-to-human transmission.

This is causing concern about its potential for broader spread. Mpox has been circulating in humans for many years but it also exists in wild animals in several African countries and occasionally jumps to humans, for example through the consumption of bushmeat.

Unlike the mpox outbreak in 2022, which was driven by male-to-male sexual contact, the new strain is spreading through heterosexual contact, particularly among sex workers, who account for about 30% of recorded cases.

Researchers estimate that the outbreak began around mid-September 2023. As of May 26th, 7,851 mpox cases and 384 deaths have been reported in Congo (though it is unclear how many are clade Ib infections, as there is likely to be more than one outbreak going on in the country).

In Congo the new strain is behaving quite differently from other strains of mpox, with cases also suggesting transmission through close (non-sexual) contact. Dr Udahemuka reports instances of household transmission as well as an outbreak in a school. It is also just as common in women as in men, and is reported to be causing miscarriages. The risk of international spread appears to be high, with the strain detected in towns near national borders. The new strain has also been found in sex workers from Rwanda and Uganda, a group that is normally quite mobile. With the arrival of the dry season facilitating greater migration, experts fear it is only a matter of time before the virus starts to emerge in neighbouring countries and then spreads worldwide through close contact at international airports.

In April the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention called for an increase in surveillance and contact-tracing efforts. Some experts suggest it would be worth deploying the smallpox vaccine among high-risk groups such as sex workers and health-care workers, as it has been known in the past to offer cross-protection against mpox, which is a related virus. However, the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine against this new strain remains unknown.

Trudie Lang, a professor of global-health research at the University of Oxford, suggests that although there are uncertainties, the vaccine is safe, easy to use and worth trying. There are also trials under way of an antiviral drug known as tecovirimat, with results expected next year.

The situation in the region is complicated by war, displacement and food insecurity. Containment efforts are made harder still by the likelihood of asymptomatic cases, where individuals do not know they are infected but can nevertheless spread the virus to others. Dr Lang emphasises that this, along with the number of mild cases of the infection, are the biggest unknowns in the current outbreak. Preventing this new mpox strain from becoming another global health crisis requires swift and co-ordinated action. ■

https://www.economist.com/science-a...qYX_PSpgeXNH5KIZAwBoCCLEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Is Batman bi-curious?

 

[Osculater]

Fuck yeah, im gonna go make that right now. Its too hot for hetero coffee

Yeah, but I prefer to drink my coffee straight

 

[Misanthropist]

Will we get jobkeeper bonus paycheck again?

 

[Belaya Smert]

Once in a 100 year flu gonna be every 4 years around November now.

 

[Osculater]

Once in a 100 year flu gonna be every 4 years around November now.

It is not a flu virus

 

[PBAC]

IDK I sometimes read global panic stories and visualise that we're all wrongly captive prisoners and a giant omnipresent warden is coming up with any reason to lock us all down so he doesn't lose his job. It's almost biblical, like satan losing his grip on humanity so he starts punishing them for things entirely out of their own control. You did absolutely nothing but you go to hell for shaking hands.