WHO Official: Monkeypox Could Be 'Just The Tip of the Iceberg'

The monkeypox virus is transmitted mainly to people from wild animals such as rodents and primates. However, human-to-human transmission is also possible.

Since the first cases of monkeypox were confirmed in the UK in early May, the total number of cases around the world has already exceeded 200, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

According to the organisation's Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Chief Sylvie Briand, this could be just the beginning.

“We don’t know if we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg [or] whether there are many more cases that are undetected in communities,” Briand said during a press briefing earlier this week.

Monkeypox - an infection related to smallpox but less severe and with a smaller fatality rate - is endemic in some African countries. However, in early May it was suddenly detected in Britain in a man who had returned from Nigeria. Since then, the UK has confirmed 90 monkeypox cases. The infection has also been detected in more than 20 countries worldwide, including several European countries as well as in the US, Latin America, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates.

“We know that we will have more cases in the coming days,” Briand said, but stressed there was no need to panic. “This is not a disease the general public should be worried about. It is not COVID or other diseases that spread fast.”

She added that WHO experts have been working to determine what has caused the spread of the infection, adding that preliminary investigations show the virus that causes monkeypox has neither changed nor mutated.

The initial symptoms of monkeypox are high fever, swollen lymph nodes and a chickenpox-like rash. Most people recover within three to four weeks. Vaccines developed for smallpox are known to be quite effective in preventing monkeypox but since smallpox was eradicated worldwide by 1980, the vaccines are in very limited numbers now.