I recently noted that there were over a dozen cases of the usually rare viral disease being reported from Europe, and one known cases observed in Massachusetts.
The number in Europe has now topped 100, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling an emergency meeting.
In what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever, cases have been reported in at least nine countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom – as well as the United States, Canada and Australia.Spain reported 24 new cases on Friday, mainly in the Madrid region where the regional government closed a sauna linked to the majority of infections. read moreA hospital in Israel was treating a man in his 30s who is displaying symptoms consistent with the disease after recently arriving from Western Europe.
Monkeypox causes a wide array of symptoms (headaches, muscle aches, fever), but is most noted for skin lesions that are usually seen after 1 7-14 day incubation period. Normally, there are few cases detected outside of Africa.
That was, until 2022.
More than 120 confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox, a rare viral disease seldom detected outside of Africa, have been reported in at least 11 non-African countries in the past week. The emergence of the virus in separate populations across the world where it doesn’t usually appear has alarmed scientists — and sent them racing for answers.“It’s eye-opening to see this kind of spread,” says Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California Los Angeles, who has studied monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for more than a decade…. In an average year, a few thousand cases occur in Africa, typically in the western and central parts of the continent. But cases outside Africa have been limited to a handful that are associated with travel to Africa or with the importation of infected animals. The number of cases detected outside of Africa in the past week alone — which is all but certain to increase — has already surpassed the number detected outside the continent since 1970, when the virus was first identified as causing disease in humans. This rapid spread is what has scientists on high alert.
In fact, New York City health public health officials are now investigating a possible case.
The authorities said little about the patient, who is currently in isolation at Bellevue Hospital, according to a statement from the city health department. The patient arrived to the hospital Thursday, according to one official.Patient samples will be sent to the city’s public health lab for a preliminary test, and if that comes back positive, samples will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm whether the illness is in fact monkeypox, according to the health authorities.
If WHO officials are gearing up to use the surge in monkeypox cases to rehabilitate their reputations of their wretched covid respons, they should reconsider.
And, as a reminder, the lockdowns that ensured after covid spread from Wuhan, China, had minimal impact on actual mortality, but enormous societal consequences (that we will be dealing with for years, if not decades).
Economists who carried out a meta-analysis found draconian restrictions imposed in spring 2020 — including stay-at-home orders, compulsory masks and social distancing — only reduced Covid mortality by 0.2 per cent.They warned that lockdowns caused ‘enormous economic and social costs’ and concluded they were ‘ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument’ going forward.The review, led by a Johns Hopkins University professor, argued that border closures had virtually zero effect on Covid mortality, reducing deaths by just 0.1 per cent.
At this point, I would rather hear what Swedish public health officials have to say about monkeypox. And perhaps getting the opinions from the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration would be worthwhile.
What should be of most concern for most people is that WHO is beginning to make recommendations for restrictions. For example, WHO officials are warning people about the dangers of attending summer festivals.
WHO regional director for Europe, Dr Hans Kluge] has said he is concerned the spread of the virus could speed up over the summer months as people gather for parties and festivals.”As we enter the summer season in the European region, with mass gatherings, festivals and parties, I am concerned that transmission could accelerate, as the cases currently being detected are among those engaging in sexual activity, and the symptoms are unfamiliar to many,” Dr Kluge said in a statement.
Finally, it must be noted that the WHO emergency meeting is being called just ahead of a WHO assembly that will be discussing a possible Global Pandemic Treaty.
Considering all the failures of WHO during covid, I personally would prefer a different approach to monkeypox should the virus have evolved to be more infectious. And I urge a lot more real science be used to assess how the virus is being spread, its real health risks to healthy individuals, and realistic recommendations for transmission prevention measures.
Frankly, I do not think WHO has done anything to earn our trust back, and perhaps we need to pressure our representatives to quarantine that treaty on a permanent basis.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY