Europe must not be complacent about the monkeypox outbreak, which is affecting the continent far more than the rest of the world, a World Health Organization official has warned.
Europe accounts for nearly 90% of all globally reported cases since mid-May and 31 countries have reported cases – giving the region 4,500 cases of infection, WHO’s European director Dr Hans Henri Kluge said.
Although 99% of patients have been male there have been other cases of household transmission, including children, according to Dr Kluge.
Dr Kluge called on countries rapidly to scale up surveillance, ensuring prompt tracing of contacts.
He said: “There is simply no room for complacency – especially right here in the European Region with its fast-moving outbreak that with every hour, day and week is extending its reach into previously unaffected areas.”
He added: “Monkeypox has illustrated yet again how diseases endemic to or emerging in a few countries can swiftly expand into outbreaks that impact distant regions, and indeed the entire world. This outbreak once again tests the political resolve of individual Member States and the European Region as a whole.
“Let us not squander this opportunity but capitalize on the experience of COVID-19 to do what is right – quickly and decisively, for the benefit of our entire Region and beyond.”
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