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WHO confirms monkeypox spreads sexually in DR Congo amid outbreak | Health News<\/p>\n
The health agency\u2019s confirmation comes amid a monkeypox outbreak in the DRC and a concerning lack of vaccines in Africa.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The World Health Organization said it has confirmed sexual transmission of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the first time as the country\u2019s experiences its biggest-ever outbreak, a worrying development that African scientists warn could make it more difficult to stop the disease.<\/p>\n In a statement issued late Thursday, the United Nations health agency said a resident of Belgium travelled to Congo in March and tested positive for monkeypox, shortly afterwards. WHO said the individual \u201cidentified himself as a man who has sexual relations with other men\u201d and that he had gone to several underground clubs for gay and bisexual men.<\/p>\n Among his sexual contacts, five later tested positive for monkeypox, WHO said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first definitive proof of sexual transmission of monkeypox in Africa,\u201d Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups, said. \u201cThe idea that this kind of transmission could not be happening here has now been debunked.\u201d<\/p>\n Monkeypox, sometimes called mpox, has been endemic in parts of Central and West Africa for decades, where it mostly jumped into humans from infected rodents and caused limited outbreaks. Last year, epidemics triggered mainly by sex among gay and bisexual men in Europe hit more than 100 countries. WHO declared the outbreak as a global emergency and it has caused about 91,000 cases to date.<\/p>\n The agency noted there were dozens of \u201cdiscrete\u201d clubs in Congo where men have sex with other men, including members who travel to other parts of Africa and Europe. The agency described the recent monkeypox outbreak as \u201cunusual\u201d and said it highlighted the risk the disease could spread widely among sexual networks.<\/p>\n WHO added that the monkeypox outbreak this year in Congo, which has infected more than 12,500 people and killed about 580, also marked the first time the disease has been identified in the capital of Kinshasa and in the conflict-ridden province of South Kivu. Those figures are roughly double the monkeypox toll in 2020, making it Congo\u2019s biggest-ever outbreak, WHO said.<\/p>\n Virologist Tomori said that even those figures were likely an underestimate and had implications for the rest of Africa, given the continent\u2019s often patchy disease surveillance.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happening in Congo is probably happening in other parts of Africa,\u201d he said. \u201cSexual transmission of monkeypox is likely established here, but [gay] communities are hiding it because of the draconian [anti-LGBTQ+] laws in several countries,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n He warned that driving people at risk for the virus underground would make the disease harder to curb.<\/p>\n The monkeypox virus causes fever, chills, rash, and lesions on the face or genitals. Most people recover within several weeks without requiring hospitalisation.<\/p>\n WHO said the risk of monkeypox spreading to other countries in Africa and globally \u201cappears to be significant,\u201d adding that there could be \u201cpotentially more severe consequences\u201d than the worldwide epidemic last year.<\/p>\n Tomori lamented that while the mpox outbreaks in Europe and North America prompted mass immunisation campaigns among affected populations, no such plans were being proposed for Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the thousands of cases in Congo, no vaccines have arrived,\u201d he noted. \u201cWe have been saying for years in Africa that monkeypox is a problem,\u201d he said. \u201cNow that sexual transmission has been confirmed here, this should be a signal to everyone to take it much more seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631<\/a>
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