The World Health Organization declared a global emergency with the rising number of monkeypox cases around the world, an action that provides additional resources to the more than 70 countries impacted by the spread of the virus, reports USA Today.
Approximately 14,000 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed around the world, with the US seeing about 2,600 confirmed cases. The likely number of cases worldwide is believed to be much higher because many countries do not have testing capabilities, whereas the US has a strong medical reporting system.
The WHO has previously declared global emergencies for the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, the Zika virus in Latin America in 2016, as well as the worldwide effort to eradicate polio. The declaration calls on governments to put forth resources and manpower to identify and isolate patients who have been exposed to the virus.
The WHO’s leading expert on monkeypox says that more than 98% of the cases that have spread beyond African were transmitted by men who have had sexual relations with infected men. Researchers have found that many of the cases in Europe and North America arose from two raves that were held in Europe, one in Spain and one in Belgium, earlier this year.