“Reduce the number of sexual partners”: WHO advice amid rising cases of monkeypox
World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who declared monkeypox a global health emergency last Saturday. He told reporters that the best way to prevent infection is to “reduce exposure”. The head of the World Health Organization has advised that men who are at risk of monkeypox should consider limiting the number of sexual partners for the time being. He said reduce your number of sexual partners, reconsider having sex with new partners. Ghebreyesus said more than 18,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported from 78 countries, of which 70 percent have been reported in Europe and 25 percent in the US.
Indeed, models presented to the WHO suggest that the average number of people infected with the disease is between 1.4 and 1.8 among men who have sex with men, but less than 1.0 in other populations.
The WHO has declared the current monkeypox epidemic a global health emergency. The Independent Advisory Committee, which met on Thursday 21 July 2022, was not unanimous in deciding whether to call the growing monkeypox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – the highest level of alert. The head of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, broke the deadlock and declared the outbreak a PHEIC. This is the first time the director general of the WHO has brushed aside his advisers to declare a public health emergency.
More cases are coming from Europe
Most of the infections have come from Europe. Most of the infections have occurred in men who have sex with men, especially men who have sex with multiple people. A full 98 percent of cases have been reported in men who have sex with men. A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 98 percent of infected people were gay or bisexual men, and 95 percent of cases were transmitted through sexual activity.
Experts have recently been debating whether monkeypox is now a sexually transmitted disease. Even though monkeypox is undoubtedly spread during sex, labeling it as an STD would not be correct, as the infection can spread through any intimate contact.
