More than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported from 58 countries in the current outbreak, the World Health Organization said.
WHO director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Wednesday the organization’s monkeypox emergency committee will reconvene the week of July 18, and it may be sooner if warranted, according to Fortune.
At its previous meeting on June 27, the committee decided that the outbreak, which has seen cases rising both in the African countries where it usually spreads and globally, was not yet a health emergency.
“I continue to be concerned by the scale and spread of the virus across the world,” Tedros said, adding that a lack of testing meant that there were likely many more cases going unreported. He added that about 80 percent of the cases are in Europe.
Last week, WHO officials said the committee would reconvene again soon due to the “evolving situation,” citing the virus’s move into the pediatric population and its “rapid evolution” and spread.
Global cases of monkeypox rose from 5,800 on Friday to nearly 7,000 Tuesday, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said in a response to a question asked by Fortune that there may have been a failure in surveillance, overall.
“When we look once and look again, did the virus change abruptly, or was our surveillance very poor?” he said, calling for an expansion of genomic sequencing, including real-time sequencing, in Africa. “I think we can say with monkeypox that the surveillance is very poor.”
Threat growing ‘with every hour, day, and week’
In a Friday statement, Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said there is “no room for complacency” in the battle against the virus, calling it a “fast-moving outbreak that with every hour, day, and week is extending its reach into previously unaffected areas.”
Dr. Kluge also notes that 10 percent of patients require hospitalization, although there have been no deaths.
Symptoms are similar to but milder than those of smallpox, according to the CDC. Initial symptoms usually include fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion. Within one to three days, patients develop a rash, usually starting on the face and then spreading to other parts of the body.
Lesions progress through various stages before scabbing. The illness usually lasts two to four weeks. The typical incubation period is seven to 14 days but can range from five to 21 days.
North Carolina company to offer monkeypox Test
North Carolina-based Labcorp is the first company in the United States to offer a test for monkeypox.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to expand monkeypox testing across the country, as well as vaccine and treatment access. The focus is on getting the PCR test for monkeypox into national laboratories like Labcorp, so people can get tested quickly if needed.
“Labcorp appreciates the opportunity to support the CDC in its efforts to keep the public safe and manage the monkeypox outbreak,” said Dr. Brian Caveney, chief medical officer and President of Labcorp Diagnostics, reports ABC6 News. “We will initially perform all monkeypox testing in our main North Carolina lab and have the capacity to expand to other locations nationwide should the need arise.”
Lapcorp expects to eventually have the ability to process up to 10,000 tests per week, doubling the current capacity available through the CDC.
