WHO to decide on sounding highest alarm on monkeypox

Monkeypox experts were discussing Thursday whether the World Health Organization should classify the outbreak as a global health emergency -- the highest alarm it can sound.

A second meeting of the WHO's emergency committee on the virus was being held to examine the worsening situation, with nearly 15,400 cases reported from 71 countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

On June 23, the WHO convened an emergency committee of experts to decide if monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) -- the UN health agency's highest alert level.

But a majority advised the WHO's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the situation, at that point, had not met the threshold.

The second meeting was called with case numbers rising further.

"I need your advice in assessing the immediate and mid-term public health implications," Tedros told the start of the meeting.

If the committee advises Tedros that the outbreak constitutes a PHEIC, it will propose temporary recommendations on how to better prevent and reduce the spread of the disease and manage the global public health response.

But there is no timetable for when the outcome will be made public.

Information battle

Ninety-eight percent of reported cases "are among men -- and primarily those who have multiple recent anonymous or new partners," Rosamund Lewis, the WHO's technical lead for monkeypox, told a press conference on Wednesday.

They are typically of young age and chiefly in urban areas, according to the WHO.

Tedros said Thursday that this posed a challenge, as in some countries, "the communities affected face life-threatening discrimination".

Tedros said the first committee gathering helped delineate the dynamics of the outbreak, but he remained concerned about the number of cases.

Despite an apparent declining trend in some countries, six nations reported their first cases last week.

However, "we know a lot more about this disease, we've been able to stop outbreaks previously and we, importantly, have medical counter-measures and other tools available".