Monkeypox outbreak in Europe not yet public health emergency, says EMA

The Hague [Netherlands], June 2 : The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Thursday said the current monkeypox outbreak in Europe is "not a public health emergency" presently.
Marco Cavaleri, the EMA's head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy, said the risk for the general population to contract the disease is low and no massive surge in cases is foreseen even if an increase of cases will likely occur.
"The focus should remain on the identification, monitoring and management of new cases (of monkeypox)," Xinhua quoted Cavaleri as saying.
Cavaleri said the monkeypox outbreak is "unusual, including the large geographical spread," but "most patients had mild symptoms and recovered without needing treatments."
The EMA is acting out of precaution to ensure options for prevention and treatment if needed, he said.
On Wednesday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said thirty non-endemic countries have reported more than 550 confirmed cases of monkeypox.
"Investigations are ongoing, but the sudden appearance of monkeypox in many countries at the same time suggests there may have been undetected transmission for some time," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists at WHO's Geneva headquarters.
With most reported cases having been among sexual encounters between men, those communities are working to inform their members of risks and preventative action that can be taken.
"But all of us must work hard to fight stigma, which is not just wrong, it could also prevent infected individuals from seeking care, making it harder to stop transmission," warned the WHO chief, urging affected countries to widen their surveillance to the broader community.