LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) will convene an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss monkeypox, a disease that is spreading outside the African continent, several relatives report. the UN agency.
It is the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards (STAG-IH), which advises the organization on diseases that may pose a global threat, that is to meet, the sources said.
More than 100 proven or presumed cases of monkeypox have been identified, particularly in France, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and also in the United States and Australia.
This viral disease, rare in Europe, was observed until now mainly in central and western Africa. The virus was first discovered in monkeys in 1958, hence its name.
The monkeypox virus (or “monkeypox”) is transmitted to humans through contact with wild animals, rodents or primates. But it is potential human-to-human transmissions, usually rare, that alert the medical profession.
The disease is manifested in a first phase by fever, headaches, joint and muscle pain, swollen glands. The second stage is a rash with blisters, which often begins on the face and then can spread to other parts of the body, including the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet and the genitals.
There is no specific treatment, the patients, placed in solitary confinement, mostly recover spontaneously. (Report Jennifer Rigby, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)