Nearly 200 Cases Of Monkeypox In Over 20 Countries, India On Alert | Top Updates

Monkeypox is endemic in 11 countries in West and Central Africa, and is a less severe illness than its relative smallpox.

Representational Image. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: Nearly 200 cases of monkeypox have been reported in more than 20 countries not normally known to have outbreaks of the unusual disease, according to the World Health Organization, which described the epidemic as containable and proposed the creation of a stockpile to equitably share the limited vaccines and drugs available globally, news agency PTI reported.

Here's 10 Latest Updates About The Monkeypox Outbreak:

1. Monkeypox is endemic in 11 countries in West and Central Africa, and is a less severe illness than its relative smallpox.
2. The virus was first detected in monkeys maintained for study in 1958. In 1970, the first human case of monkeypox was reported.
3. Officials stated on Friday that the West Bengal government has urged hospitals in the state to set up special facilities to accommodate patients with signs of monkeypox who have travelled from other countries.
4. The Health Department issued an advice instructing hospitals to maintain isolation beds on hand and to collect samples from suspicious patients and submit them to the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
5. The UN health agency said there are still many unresolved questions about what prompted the unusual epidemic of monkeypox outside of Africa at a public briefing on Friday, but there is no evidence that any genetic changes in the virus are to blame.
6. According to Dr. Sylvie Briand, WHO's head of pandemic and epidemic diseases, the first sequencing of the virus reveals that the strain is not different from the strains we may find in endemic areas, and (this outbreak) is probably attributable more to a shift in human behaviour.
7. A top WHO consultant warned earlier this week that the outbreak in Europe, the United States, Israel, Australia, and elsewhere was likely connected to sex at two recent raves in Spain and Belgium. This is a dramatic divergence from the disease's traditional pattern of distribution in central and western Africa, where people are mostly infected by animals such as wild rats and monkeys, and epidemics haven't crossed borders.
8. According to officials in the Madrid region, the number of cases in Spain has climbed to 98, including one woman whose illness is directly tied to a chain of transmission that had hitherto been exclusive to males.
9. Officials in the United Kingdom have added 16 additional instances of monkeypox to their tally, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 106. Portugal's backlog increased to 74 cases on Friday.
10. In the meanwhile, 74 confirmed cases have been reported in Portugal, according to health officials, with all of the cases occurring in men under the age of 40.

(With PTI Inputs)