Monkeypox outbreak spreads across the world

As the monkeypox outbreak spreads across the world, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 3,099 people had been infected in 42 countries based on the estimations of the WHO and relevant countries, including South Korea.

According to the CDC on Tuesday (local time), there are 2,683 monkeypox patients in 27 European countries, which account for 86 percent of total infected patients, followed by 351 patients in North America, and 24 in the Middle East, and 19 in Latin America. There are infected patients in not only South Korea but also in Southeast Asia, including Singapore.

According to Reuters, the first confirmed patient in Singapore is a British male flight attendant. The Ministry of Health of Singapore said the patient is in hospital and he is relatively doing well. Thirteen people who came in contact with him are quarantined for three weeks and epidemiological investigations are being conducted for those who were on the same flight.

According to the WHO, there is one death from monkeypox across the world, except in Africa where the disease spread as an endemic, as of Friday.

As monkeypox spread across the world, the WHO is expected to call for an emergency meeting on Thursday and decide whether to announce the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The PHEIC is the highest level of alarm for a disease that spreads across the world. So far, it has been announced for COVID-19 and polio.

The World Health Organization believes that monkeypox is spreading across males who have homosexual relationships or those who visited Europe or North America. The U.K., which has the most number of infected patients at 793, recommended on Tuesday that high-risk groups, such as homosexual and bisexual males, get vaccinated. The WHO said the smallpox vaccines, which are known to prevent monkeypox, lack clinical data and are not supplied enough and mass-scale vaccination might be too early.


Min Kim kimmin@donga.com