The World Health Organization has been informed about 92 confirmed and 28 suspected monkeypox cases at countries that are not endemic to the virus, it said on Twitter on Sunday, APA reports.
As of 14 pm on May 21 in Moscow, "92 laboratory confirmed cases, and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox with investigations ongoing, have been reported to WHO from 12 Member States that are not endemic for monkeypox virus, across three WHO regions," the WHO said.
Reported cases have no established travel links to endemic areas, the organization said. The identification of the disease in people that didn’t travel the endemic countries "represents a highly unusual event," according to the WHO. Human-to-human transmission is occurring among people in close physical contact with cases who are symptomatic.
"Based on currently available information, cases have mainly but not exclusively been identified amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) seeking care in primary care and sexual health clinics," the WHO said.
Genome sequence from a swab sample from a case in Portugal indicated a close match of the monkeypox virus causing the current outbreak, to exported cases from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, Israel and Singapore in 2018 and 2019.
Monkeypox endemic countries are: Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana (identified in animals only), Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan.
WHO said it’s convening experts to discuss recommendations on vaccination.
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