The rise in monkeypox cases “is not out of control”, according to the deputy director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Mariângela Simão.
In an interview with CNN Radio she highlighted that the current moment – with the WHO declaring a global health emergency for the disease – “is to make a diagnosis.”
In the evaluation of the deputy director, the increase in records of monkeypox in Brazil and in other countries “is related to greater attention, it does not mean an epidemic without control.”
“The increase in the number of cases explicitly shows that there is greater attention to this and it is essential to carry out epidemiological surveillance of the contacts and surroundings of the person who has the disease at the moment”, he added.
Mariângela drew attention to the fact that the disease “is not serious”: “In the vast majority of cases it is mild, it can be managed clinically, and it takes 2 weeks to be cured.”
“It takes a lot of attention to warning signs and symptoms, in addition to health professionals, for early diagnosis to happen”, he defended.
According to Mariângela Simão, the WHO wants to avoid a frantic race for the vaccine. “Most of the measures that should be used at the moment are not the vaccine, the solution is not the vaccine, but identification of cases.
The most susceptible groups are children, pregnant women and people with immunosuppression.
She also highlighted that “there is not enough vaccine in the world” and that approved immunizers are used primarily for traditional smallpox and further studies should be carried out “to collect more information on their effectiveness” against monkeypox.
So far, Brazil has 813 recorded cases of monkeypox.
*Produced by Layane Serra
Source: CNN Brasil
