Risk of monkeypox moderate, more studies needed: WHO Regional Director

In the wake of the rising monkeypox cases, India and other countries in the region are on alert, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia.

The WHO has been supporting member-countries to assess the risk of the virus and strengthen the capacities of nations to respond to the outbreak, she said.

“The region has been on alert, following monkeypox, and countries have been taking appropriate measures to prevent its spread,” Dr Singh told Moneycontrol.

Low mortality rate a relief

Responding to a question on the evolution of the virus in the current outbreak, she said genomic studies have revealed that the monkeypox virus seems to have changed over recent years.

“More studies are needed to understand the evolution of this virus. WHO is regularly reviewing available data with its laboratories and expert groups,” she added.

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She further said that the risk of the monkeypox virus has been assessed as moderate, considering that this is the first time that monkeypox cases and clusters are concurrently reported in many countries.

“This is balanced against the fact that mortality rate in the current outbreak of monkeypox has remained low,” she said.

‘Might have been prevailing for a long time’

Talking about the unexpected appearance of the disease, she said that the spread across a wider geography, globally, indicates that the disease may have been prevailing below the detection of the surveillance systems.

“It is possible that sustained human-to-human transmission through close contact - direct or indirect - remained undetected for a long period,” she added.

Transmission risk in South-East Asian countries

When asked about the measures for the prevention and control of monkeypox, she said: “In the current outbreak, countries, and among the reported monkeypox cases, transmission appears to be occurring primarily through close physical contact, including sexual contact. Transmission can also occur from contaminated materials such as linens, bedding, electronics, and clothing that have infectious skin particles.”

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“We need to stay alert and be prepared to roll out an intense response to curtail the spread of monkeypox. While doing this, our efforts and measures should be sensitive, and devoid of stigma and discrimination,” added Dr Singh.

The WHO has been sharing guidance for raising awareness, surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing, laboratory diagnostics and testing, clinical management, infection prevention and control, and community engagement, she said.

She said collective attention and coordinated action are required to check its further spread.

“In addition to the adoption of public health safety measures and ensuring that health tools are available to ‘at-risk populations’ and are shared fairly, it is important to work with communities to ensure that people who are most at-risk, have the information and support they need to protect themselves,” she added.

NIV, Pune, made referral centre

In view of the limited testing capacities in this region for monkeypox, the WHO has coordinated with the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, which is one of the four laboratories that will serve as a referral centre for the monkeypox virus.

The Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Australia, National Institute of Health, Department of Medical Sciences, Thailand; and Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, are the other three labs.