Almost a month ago, director general of World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had asked men at risk of monkeypox to consider limiting sexual partners for now.
New Delhi: A man with a travel history of West Africa has been diagnosed with a new strain of monkeypox in the UK. According to the reports, his genome sequencing has indicated that the latest case does not have the current outbreak strain circulating in the country.
The UK health officials said that they have been working to contact the individuals who have had close contact with the case prior to confirmation of their infection, to assess them as necessary and provide advice.
The officials have also cautioned people visiting or planning to visit West and Central Africa and have alerted the people for the symptoms of monkeypox and to call 111 if they feel any symptoms on return from these countries. Though the authorities have been working on contact tracing of the individual but no more linked cases have been identified so far.
Almost a month ago, director general of World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had asked men at risk of monkeypox to consider limiting sexual partners for now.
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“For men who have sex with men, this includes, for the moment, reducing your number of sexual partners, reconsidering sex with new partners, and exchanging contact details with any new partners to enable follow-up if needed,” Ghebreyesus had said.
“This is an outbreak that can be stopped, if countries, communities and individuals inform themselves, take the risks seriously, and take the steps needed to stop transmission and protect vulnerable groups. The best way to do that is to reduce the risk of exposure. That means making safe choices for yourself and others,” the director general had said.
“The focus for all countries must be engaging and empowering communities of men who have sex with men to reduce the risk of infection and onward transmission, to provide care for those infected, and to safeguard human rights and dignity. Stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus, and can fuel the outbreak,” he had further said.
He had added, “Although 98% of cases so far are among men who have sex with men, anyone exposed can get monkeypox, which is why WHO recommends that countries take action to reduce the risk of transmission to other vulnerable groups, including children, pregnant women and those who are immunosuppressed.”
WHO had recommended targeted vaccination for those exposed to someone with monkeypox and for those at high risk of exposure, including health workers, some laboratory workers, and those with multiple sexual partners. “At this time, we do not recommend mass vaccination against monkeypox,” Ghebreyesus had said.
