[ad_1]
The World Health Organization released its first status report on monkeypox transmission on Thursday, detailing what is typical of people affected by the outbreak so far.
According to the World Health Organization, based on available statistics, almost all affected patients so far have been male, with a median age of 37, and three-fifths of them identify as men who have sex with men.
A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease is endemic.
From 1 January to 4 July, 6,027 laboratory-confirmed monkeypox cases and 3 deaths from 59 countries have been reported to WHO.
The number of cases has increased by 77% since June 27, when two new deaths were reported – both in the Central African Republic.
The WHO said 10 countries had reported no new cases for more than 21 days, the longest incubation period for the disease.
About 82% of cases are in Europe and 15% in the Americas.
According to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO Europe, the countries with more than 1,000 confirmed cases are the UK (1,351), Spain (1,256) and Germany (1,242).
Outside Europe, the WHO report counted 460 confirmed cases in the United States and 300 in Canada.
– Route of transmission through sexual contact –
In its first bi-weekly situation report on monkeypox, WHO said gender data was available for 4,406 cases, of which 99.5% were male.
“The outbreak continues to primarily affect men who have had sex with men who have recently had sex with one or more male partners, suggesting that there is currently no indication of continued transmission outside of these networks,” the report said.
Men aged 18 to 44 accounted for 79% of cases, with a median age of 37 years.
There are 6 known cases in children under 18 and 25 known cases in healthcare workers.
“Of reported cases of sexual orientation, 60% (1,214 of 2,025) were identified as gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men; 41% (335 of 827) had known HIV infection were HIV-positive,” the report said.
“Among known contacts, the most commonly suspected and reported route of transmission is through sexual contact.”
– Atypical symptoms –
Normal initial symptoms of monkeypox include high fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a chickenpox-like rash.
But in this outbreak, many cases did not present the classically described clinical manifestations, the report said.
Of the cases reporting at least one symptom, 81% had a generalized rash, 50% had a fever, and 41% had a genital rash.
The detection data indicate that the monkeypox virus genome is of the West African type, which is milder than other Congo Basin groups.
[ad_2]
Source link