Monkeypox has likely spread undetected ‘for some time’: WHO
Al JazeeraThe appearance of hundreds of monkeypox cases in several parts of the world suggests there may have been undetected transmission, says the head of the United Nations health agency. The World Health Organization has said that hundreds of monkeypox cases have surfaced beyond the African countries where the disease is typically found, warning that the virus has likely been spreading under the radar. “Investigations are ongoing, but the sudden appearance of monkeypox in many countries at the same time suggests there may have been undetected transmission for some time,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Wednesday. The United Nations health agency’s top monkeypox expert Rosamund Lewis said that the appearance of so many cases across much of Europe and other countries where it has not been seen before “is clearly a cause for concern, and it does suggest undetected transmission for a while”. Lewis highlighted that monkeypox cases had also been on the rise in endemic countries, where thousands fall ill from the disease each year, with around 70 deaths from the virus reported across five African countries so far this year.