[ad_1]
televisionThe World Health Organization’s emergency committee will meet next Wednesday to decide whether to activate the highest alert level for the African pox outbreak that has swept several African countries.
The closed-door virtual meeting will begin at 10:00 GMT on Wednesday, the WHO said in a note to journalists.
“The committee will provide me with its opinion on whether this outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
He added that if that turned out to be the case, they would make recommendations on “how to better prevent and reduce the spread of the disease.”
Formerly known as monkeypox, monkeypox is an infectious disease caused by a virus that is transmitted to humans from infected animals, but can also be spread from person to person through close physical contact.
The disease causes fever, muscle aches and large, boil-like skin lesions.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is currently the country most affected by the latest outbreak, with 14,479 confirmed and suspected cases and 455 deaths as of August 3, according to the African Union health agency.
Source: AFP
[ad_2]
Source link
