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Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, September 8, 2022, p. 14
Miami. America has become the epicenter of the global monkeypox outbreak with more than 30,000 cases, concentrated mainly in the United States, Brazil, Peru and Canada, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported yesterday. However, he clarified that mass vaccination is not necessary for now.
With vaccines in short supply and no effective treatment for smallpox, countries must intensify their efforts to prevent the spread of the virus in our region
said Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO. We have the means to slow down this virus
he indicated.
Unlike covid-19, monkeypox is not spread through the air, but rather when a person comes into physical contact with a sick person or an animal.
Monkeypox has been circulating in central and western Africa for decades and was not known to have large outbreaks in nations on other continents or to spread widely among people until May, when dozens of cases began to be reported in Europe and North America.
The World Health Organization declared in July a global emergency for monkeypox, the highest alert level that has already been used in the past in similar Zika outbreaks in Latin America, in 2016, and in the coronavirus pandemic, among others. The statement does not necessarily mean that the disease is particularly communicable or fatal.
In America, most cases have been detected among men who have sex with men, although at least 145 cases have also been confirmed among women and 54 cases among children under 18 years of age, PAHO said.
So far, 30,772 cases have been registered in 31 countries on the continent and four deaths in Brazil, Cuba and Ecuador, according to PAHO.
Some 12 nations in the region have requested PAHO assistance to buy doses of the Bavarian Nordic vaccine and will begin receiving them from September, the organization said, but without providing details or the names of those countries. Another seven are analyzing whether they will do so.
PAHO, however, stressed that due to supply shortages, the vaccine should only be applied to the highest-risk groups for now.
The vaccine is a helpful tool, but it will not solve the definitive problems
said the interim deputy director of the organization, Marcos Espinal.
Campaigns with messages about how monkeypox is transmitted and how to identify symptoms are vital to preventing the spread.
