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WHO decries attacks on monkeys over pox fears

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) stressed on Tuesday that monkeypox outbreaks were not linked to monkeys, following a number of reported attacks on the primates in Brazil.

“What people need to know is that the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans,” WHO spokesman Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva.

She insisted that the primates could not be blamed for the surge in monkeypox cases in Brazil after reports of a hike in physical attacks and poisonings of monkeys in the South American nation.

Local media have detailed a spike in assaults on monkeys using stones or poison in a number of Brazilian cities.

In a natural reserve in Rio do Preto in Sao Paulo state, 10 monkeys appeared to have been poisoned or intentionally injured in less than a week, according to news site G1.

Rescuers and activists suspect the monkeys were poisoned and attacked after three monkeypox cases were confirmed in the area, G1 said.

Globally, more than 28,100 cases and 12 deaths have been recorded amid a global surge in monkeypox infections since May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

To date, Brazil has registered over 1,700 cases and one death, according to WHO data.

But Harris underlined that despite its name, monkeys are not the main transmitters of the disease and have nothing to do with the current outbreak.

Monkeypox received its name because the virus was first identified in monkeys kept for research in Denmark, but the disease is found in a number of animals, most frequently in rodents.

While the virus can jump from animals to humans, the recent global explosion of cases is due to close-contact transmission between humans, Harris explained.

“The concern should be about where it [is circulating] in the human population and what humans can do to protect themselves from getting it and transmitting it,” she said.

People “should certainly not be attacking any animals,” the spokesman added.

Harris said the best way to rein in the virus was “if people recognize they have symptoms and go get help and medical care and take precautions to prevent it [from] being transmitted.”

That requires raising awareness among those most at risk.

Nearly all cases so far have been among men who have sex with men, and the WHO has cautioned against stigmatization of those infected.

“Any stigmatization of any person infected is going to increase the transmission because if people are afraid of identifying themselves as being infected, then they will not get care and will not take precautions,” Harris said.

“So, do not stigmatize any animal or any human because if you do that, we will have a much larger outbreak,” she added.

Americas And Emea

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2022-08-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281977496396097

The Manila Times