According to data from the UN agency, Europe now has more than 4,500 confirmed cases in the laboratory, three times more than in mid-June. This corresponds to 90 % of the cases recorded in the world since mid-May.
Le Monde with AFP
The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Friday 1 er July, to an “urgent action” against the variole of the monkey in Europe, due to the triple of cases for two weeks on the continent.
In a press release, the regional director of health organization Hans Kluge, called on European countries to “increase their efforts in the coming weeks and months to prevent the variole of the monkey from settled in a geographic area bigger “.
For Mr. Kluge, “an urgent and coordinated action is imperative if we want to change course in the race against the diffusion of the disease”. According to data from the specialized agency of the United Nations (UN), Europe now has more than 4,500 cases confirmed in the laboratory, three times more than in mid-June.
90 % of cases worldwide are recorded in Europe
This corresponds to 90 % of cases recorded in the world since mid-May, when this disease hitherto endemic only in ten African countries has started to spread in Europe.
known in humans since 1970, the variole of the monkey is considered to be much less dangerous and contagious than its cousin, the smallpox, eradicated in 1980. An unusual resurgence of cases has been detected since May outside the countries from Central and West Africa where the virus usually circulates.
On Saturday, WHO experts had considered the outbreak of cases as a health threat, the evolution of which was very worrying, but without reaching the stage of a global health emergency for the moment. Despite this decision, “the rapid evolution and the urgent nature of this event mean that the [experts] committee will re -examine its position shortly,” said WHO Europe.
“Not space for passivity “
Epicentre of this new contagion, Europe now has thirty -one country or territories that reported cases of variole of the monkey. The United Kingdom has, to date, the highest number of cases identified (1,076 according to the British authorities), before Germany (838), Spain (736), Portugal (365) and France (350), according to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The medical doctor in public health in London, Kevin Fenton, urged, on Thursday, anyone with symptoms of the variolate of the monkey not to participate in the march of pride planned in the British capital this weekend. In this disease transmitted by very close contact, 99 % of cases currently concern young men (aged 20 to 40), mainly homosexual, according to the WHO
The UN agency has recommended that countries intensify their surveillance of the disease, in particular its sequencing, and to obtain the ability to diagnose it and react to it. The WHO has also encouraged countries to communicate with affected and large audience groups. “There is simply no room for passivity,” insisted Mr. Kluge.
New delivery of vaccines to the United States
Friday, the Danish Laboratory Bavarian Nordic, the only laboratory to manufacture a vaccine already approved specifically against the variole of the monkey, announced a new delivery of 2.5 million doses in the United States.
This is added to a first order of 500,000 doses of the American authorities made a few weeks ago. This vaccine is marketed under the name of Jynneos in the United States, while in Europe it is called Imvanex. The European Medicines Agency announced on Tuesday that it had started examining a vaccine against human smallpox to extend its use against the variety of the monkey.
The disease first results in a high fever and evolves rapidly in rash, with the formation of crusts. Most often benign, it generally heals spontaneously after two to three weeks.