According to a prominent WHO consultant, monkeypox propagation was likely "amplified" through sex at two raves in Europe.

According to a prominent WHO consultant, monkeypox propagation was likely "amplified" through sex at two raves in Europe.

The unusual epidemic of the rare disease monkeypox in affluent countries was described by a top WHO consultant as "a random event" that could be explained by hazardous sexual behaviour at two recent major events in Europe.

Dr. David Heymann, the former chief of WHO's emergency section, told The Associated Press that the dominant assumption for the disease's spread was sexual transmission among gay and bisexual men during two raves in Spain and Belgium. Monkeypox has never caused major outbreaks outside of Africa, where it is found in animals.

"We know monkeypox can spread when people come into close contact with an infected person's lesions, and it appears that sexual interaction has now exacerbated that transmission," Heymann added.

This is a remarkable divergence from the disease's traditional pattern of distribution in central and western Africa, where people are mostly infected by animals such as wild rats and primates, and epidemics have not crossed borders.

More than 90 cases of monkeypox have been reported by the WHO in a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Israel, France, Switzerland, Australia, and the United States.

There has been one confirmed case in Boston, according to the CDC. In Broward County, Florida, and New York City, there are also suspected cases.

Body fluids, skin, and respiratory droplets are all ways for the virus to spread. "It's critical to understand that this virus necessitates direct physical contact," said Dr. Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health. She told CBS News top medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook that seeing instances in multiple nations at the same time is unusual: "We've never seen it before."

According to a top health official in Madrid, the Spanish metropolis has so far reported 30 confirmed cases. Authorities are looking into possible links between a recent Gay Pride celebration in the Canary Islands, which drew 80,000 people, and incidents at a Madrid sauna, according to Enrique Ruiz Escudero.

On Friday, Heymann presided over an emergency meeting of WHO's advisory group on infectious disease hazards to review the ongoing epidemic, saying there was no evidence that monkeypox had mutated into a more dangerous form.

Fever, chills, rash, and lesions on the face or genitals are common symptoms of monkeypox. Close contact with an infected person, their clothing, or bedsheets can transfer the virus, but sexual transmission has yet to be documented. The majority of people recover from the sickness without the need for hospitalisation within a few weeks. Monkeypox vaccines are successful in preventing smallpox, a similar illness, and antiviral medications are being developed.

In recent years, up to 6% of infections have resulted in mortality, but no deaths have been documented among the current cases. According to the WHO, verified cases have been the less severe West African group of monkeypox viruses, and appear to be linked to a virus originally found in Nigerian cases shipped to the United Kingdom, Israel, and Singapore in 2018-2019.

The outbreak is "a extremely unusual event," according to the United Nations, and the fact that cases have been reported in so many nations shows the disease has been spreading quietly for some time. As summer approaches across Europe, the agency's Europe head cautioned that large gatherings, festivals, and parties could hasten the spread of monkeypox.

Other scientists have pointed out that determining whether the current spread of monkeypox across Europe is due to sex or close contact connected to sex will be challenging.

"By definition, sexual activity entails close contact, which one would expect to increase the likelihood of transmission regardless of sexual orientation or manner of transmission," said Mike Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London.

Dr. Susan Hopkins, the top medical adviser for the UK's Health Security Agency, said on Sunday that she expects additional monkeypox cases to be detected "on a daily basis."

Officials in the United Kingdom have stated that "a significant proportion" of the cases in the United Kingdom and Europe have been in young males who have never travelled to Africa and who are gay, bisexual, or have intercourse with men. Authorities in Portugal and Spain said the instances were largely in men who had sex with other guys and whose infections were discovered when they went to a sexual health facility for help with lesions.

The monkeypox outbreak, according to Heymann, who is also a professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was most likely a random occurrence traceable to a single infection.

"It's extremely possible that someone became infected, acquired sores on their genitals, hands, or elsewhere, and then transferred it to others through sexual or close physical contact," Heymann speculated. "And then there were these international events that spread the outbreak all over the world, even into the United States and other European countries." cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval cheval

He stressed that the sickness was unlikely to spread widely.

He stated, "This is not COVID." "We need to slow it down, but it doesn't travel through the air, and we can protect ourselves with vaccines." According to Heymann, research should be undertaken quickly to see if monkeypox can be transferred by people who don't have symptoms, and groups at risk should take efforts to protect themselves.

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Dr. LaPook of CBS News agreed.

"This should be taken seriously, and public health experts are taking it seriously," LaPook added. "However, keep in mind that this is not COVID." We had no idea what SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, was when the epidemic began; it was a whole new virus. We didn't have any treatments, vaccinations, or knowledge about the disease.

"This is quite unique. Monkeypox has been around for about 60 years. There are vaccinations and medicines available, and we have extensive expertise dealing with it, particularly in Africa."

He also mentioned that "People were asymptomatic at the start of the pandemic, thus it spread without their knowledge. The rash of [monkeypox] is distinct. It would be difficult for it to grow widely without our knowledge."