WHO experts warn Europe to prepare for monkeypox deaths

dailyrecord.co.uk:

World health experts have warned we should prepare for deaths in Europe from monkeypox. As the numbers infected rose to more than 1500 - 470 of them in the UK - Dr Catherine Smallwood, Monkeypox Incident Manager the World Health Organization (corr) in Europe warned: “Thankfully in the European Region we have had no deaths registered in the current outbreak but we should be prepared for those to happen because we do know that monkeypox can be a severe disease and we have some patients who have been hospitalised and it can lead to some severe outcomes in several population groups.” She said those most at risk were young children, pregnant women and individuals who are immuno-suppressed.

Smallwood warned: “As the virus continues to spread and affect different population groups we will likely see some severe cases.”The strain of monkeypox which is now in 25 “non-endemic countries” is the one normally found in the Western Africa which is the less serious of the two known types but it still kills around 3.3 per cent of patients.There are currently 12 cases of monkeypox in Scotland.Skin to skin or skin to mouth contact is still considered the most likely route of transmission but worrying new evidence in Italy has found monkeypox in the semen of men who have been infected.Smallwood said anyone who has become infected with monkeypox should refrain from sex until all the scabs have fallen off and even then, as a precaution, should use a condom for 12 weeks afterwards while investigations continue to see if the virus can be spread by sexual intercourse.Earlier WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Kluge, told journalists that Europe remains “the epicentre of this escalating outbreak” with 85 per cent of the global total of