(ORDO NEWS) — In a new report on the outbreak of monkeypox around the world, WHO has revealed who is most often diagnosed with this infectious disease.
The World Health Organization has published a new detailed report on the spread of monkeypox around the world.
In it, experts tried to describe a typical patient with this viral zoonotic disease, previously found mainly in areas of Central and West Africa and sometimes imported to other countries.
So, from January 1 to July 4 this year, 6027 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection and three deaths were registered in 59 countries, territories and areas (Africa, America, Europe, Eastern Mediterranean, Western Pacific region).
Most of the infected (4920) are in Europe (mainly in the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Portugal), as well as North and South America (902). All three dead are in Africa.
At the same time, in the last week, from June 27 to July 4, 2614 cases were detected (an increase of 77%), two patients – both in the Central African Republic – died. One case is associated with local transmission.
According to 4406 out of 6027 patients, monkeypox mainly occurs among men – their proportion was 99.5% (4385 out of 4406); the average age is 37 years.
“This outbreak continues to disproportionately affect men aged 18 to 44, as they account for 79% of cases; 0.1% (six out of 5584) of cases with available age data are 0-17 years old,” the report says.
Indeed, there are now infected among minors: about a third of cases are children under the age of 10, half are under five years of age. How exactly they got infected is not yet known, but the authorities exclude sexual violence.
In terms of sexual orientation, 60% (1214 out of 2025 people for whom such information is available) are gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with members of the same sex.
In addition, 41% (335 out of 827) are HIV positive. Most often, monkeypox was transmitted from person to person through sexual contact.
The clinical presentation of the current outbreak is atypical, according to the WHO, as many patients did not have the classic monkeypox symptoms of fever, swollen lymph nodes followed by maculopapules (skin lesions with a flat base), vesicles (fluid-filled blisters) and pustules (there are as a result of a purulent process).
Among patients who showed at least one sign of this disease, 81% suffered from a rash all over the body, in 41% it was localized in the genital area, 50% experienced a fever.
At the end of June, the World Health Organization committee recognized that the current outbreak is of an emergency nature, but not of international importance, that is, it cannot be called a pandemic – at least not yet.
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