Wear a face mask if you are in close contact with someone who has symptoms.Avoid coming into contact with people recently diagnosed with the virus or those who may have been infected.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.K.'s National Health Service and WHO include: While health experts agree the risks to the general public are low, there are several precautions you can take to reduce your risk of contracting the virus. But, given the pace of the outbreak and the lack of clarity around its cause, the public health body urged people to practice good hygiene and safe sex to help control its spread.
The WHO said Monday that it was unlikely mass vaccinations would be required to combat the spike in cases. Smallpox vaccinations have proven 85% effective against monkeypox.
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus, part of the same family as smallpox, although typically less severe. "Anyone who has close contact with someone who is infectious is at risk," a release on the WHO's website said Wednesday. Children, pregnant woman and the immunocompromised are considered particularly at risk. However, the World Health Organization has cautioned that anyone could be at risk of contracting the virus. The majority of new cases have spread through sex, with a particular concentration among men who have sex with other men. Before this outbreak, cases had been linked to travel to regions where the virus is endemic or imported animals carrying the virus.
The international health group said it was not aware of any deaths caused by the virus’ increased spread.It marks the first known community spread of the virus. WHO has reported 257 confirmed monkeypox cases and about 120 suspected cases from 23 countries where the virus is not endemic. Industry middlemen driving up prices of generic drug prescriptions as much as 20 percent: research “We don’t see any real reason to be concerned about enhanced likelihood of transmission in those contexts, because the parties that we’ve been referring to have perhaps been more in enclosed spaces,” he said. Seale noted that pride parades were not a particular concern because they happen outdoors, while monkeypox has recently been linked to nightclubs and other indoor settings. Seale said close bodily contact is the main risk factor for monkeypox, so condoms will not provide protection. “It’s challenging to calibrate this, to balance the risk messaging and not unintentionally contributing to stigma,” Seale said. UNAIDS earlier this month denounced monkeypox reporting that included “homophobic and racist stereotyping.” “The advice is pretty much the same for all people.” “Given this is not a gay disease, the transmission routes are common to everybody,” Seale said. Asked about similarities between the focus on LGBT people in the recent monkeypox outbreak and the HIV epidemic, Seale said WHO has a “lot of lessons learned” from dealing with HIV messaging for years. WHO released public health guidance on monkeypox last week specifically for men who have sex with men. “It really is connected to the fact there have been a couple of events that have perhaps amplified the current outbreak.” “There is no specific transmission route that we need to be worried about,” he said. Seale said at Monday’s public briefing that the organization has linked cases to a number of “social events” in European countries. The agency has said several cases have been reported among men who have sex with men, but cautioned it may be a reflection of “positive health seeking behavior” in that demographic, given that the cases were identified at sexual health clinics. WHO experts have pointed to sex at two recent raves in Europe as the leading theory for the spread of the virus, which is endemic in areas of Africa. “It’s important that people who want to go out and celebrate gay pride, LGBTQ+ pride, to continue to go and plan to do so,” said Andy Seale, a strategies adviser in the WHO Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes. A World Health Organization (WHO) adviser said on Monday that people should not change their plans to attend pride parades next month amid the increased circulation of monkeypox.