WHO holds emergency meeting on monkeypox

The World Health Organization was holding an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe, the British newspaper Telegraph reported.

According to the Telegraph, The WHO is holding a meeting for a group of leading experts to discuss the outbreak, the paper said Friday, likely focusing on discussing ways to spread the virus.

Dr Mike Ryan, WHO’s Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme is supposed to attend the meeting, the paper said.

One option in the debate could be to use the Genius vaccine against smallpox and monkeypox to vaccinate people who have had confirmed infections, the paper said.

This comes as several cases have been reported in at least nine countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom – as well as the United States, Canada and Australia.

E.M