Monkeypox hits hardest in Europe, Americas, WHO says

GENEVA/PARIS－Europe and the Americas are the regions most affected by the fast-spreading monkeypox outbreak, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

These two regions have reported 95 percent of the diagnosed cases in the current outbreak, said Tedros, the agency's director-general, in comments that came with an appeal for people not to stigmatize those infected, and for communications about the disease to be free of discrimination.

More than 18,000 monkeypox cases have been reported to the WHO from 78 countries. More than 70 percent of these came from the European region and 25 percent from the Americas, he said in an update in Geneva.

Tedros said that about 98 percent of the reported cases have been among men who have sex with men, and he stressed that stigma and discrimination can be "as dangerous as any virus and can fuel the outbreak".

"As we have seen with COVID-19 misinformation", it can spread rapidly online, he said. "So we call on social media platforms, tech companies and news organizations to work with us to prevent and counter harmful information."

On Saturday, the WHO declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern, the highest level of alert in the agency's classification system.

The agency has been urging countries to take the monkeypox outbreak seriously by taking the steps needed to stop transmission and protect vulnerable groups. "The best way to do that is to reduce the risk of exposure and make safe choices," he said.

"For men who have sex with men, this includes, for the moment, reducing your number of sexual partners, reconsidering sex with new partners, and exchanging contact details with any new partners to enable follow-up if needed."

Vaccines needed

Amid the spread of the virus, Canada, the European Union and the United States have approved a vaccine called MVA-BN for use against monkeypox, and two other vaccines are also being assessed. However, due to the lack of data on the effectiveness and dosage of the vaccines, the WHO does not recommend mass vaccination.

It has urged countries that are administering the vaccines to share data on their effectiveness.

In Paris, people lined up on Wednesday for the monkeypox vaccine at a vaccine center, which has been booked out for days since it opened.

More than 1,800 people in France have caught the monkeypox virus, with most of the infections in the Paris region, representing around 10 percent of infections globally.

More than 100 vaccine centers have opened across the country in recent weeks and more than 6,000 people have been vaccinated.

France has said that the vaccine campaign will target groups that are most at risk, including gay men and sex workers.

Vaccination center worker Romain Fauchery said that the high turnout in the first two days was positive. "It's clear that people are conscious about the illness and they want to get vaccinated," Fauchery said.

Outside the vaccine center, Benjamin, 33, described getting the shot as a sort of activism.

"It is a virus that spreads strongly in the homosexual community today. Everyone needs to take responsibility," he said.

Xinhua