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Monkeypox Outbreak Poses 'Real Risk' To Public Health, WHO Official Says (nytimes.com) 202

The World Health Organization's top official in Europe on Wednesday called for urgent action by the authorities and civic groups to control fast-rising cases of monkeypox that he said posed a real risk to public health. From a report: Europe has emerged as the epicenter of an outbreak of monkeypox, with more than 1,500 cases identified in 25 European countries, which account for 85 percent of global cases, the official, Dr. Hans Kluge, the W.H.O.'s director of its European region, said at a news conference. The W.H.O. will convene its emergency committee in Geneva next week, Dr. Kluge added, to determine if the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, a formal declaration that calls for a coordinated response between countries.

"The magnitude of this outbreak poses a real risk," Dr. Kluge said. "The longer the virus circulates, the more it will extend its reach, and the stronger the disease's foothold will get in nonendemic countries." Monkeypox is a viral infection endemic in West Africa, but it has now spread to 39 countries, including 32 that have no previous experience of it, the W.H.O. director, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told reporters on Tuesday. Countries outside Africa and Europe that have identified cases of monkeypox include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel and the United States.

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Monkeypox Outbreak Poses 'Real Risk' To Public Health, WHO Official Says

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  • Can't wait till big pharma profit off this.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Soooo, you would rather get sick, possibly maimed and maybe die than pay $15 for a vaccine? Yeah, really smart....

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Vomitgod ( 6659552 )

        yea - those words are EXACTLY what I said....

        all I said, was can't wait to big phama profit off this...

        you know - how they are conveniently rising costs for doses, and raking in BILLION dollar profit off covid 19...

        Thats all that was said.

        but no - making shit up as "fact" from a arm chair no body online - you should work for CNN - you'd be good at it.

        • how they are conveniently rising costs for doses

          Nothing convenient about it. They did after all give the first batches away at cost and didn't even recover R&D. You expect someone to provide a service for you without profit?

          Hey I got a programming job that needs doing, you interested? I won't pay you but you seem to think everything in the world happens out of the goodness of hearts so I expect you do to the same.

          • I mean, if you could write a program that saved millions of lives, wouldn't you? Even if it meant not getting rich or even paid?

        • all I said, was can't wait to big phama profit off this...

          I also can't wait for big pharma to profit off this... but I'm completely serious and not a bit sarcastic, and not because I own pharma stocks (I don't think I do... maybe in a mutual fund? Dunno.)

          The profit motive is what drives the creation, production and distribution of essentially all valuable goods and services. Without that motive we'd have almost none of the stuff that makes our lives comfortable and pleasant. And might not have the stuff that makes our lives possible. If we want companies to cont

      • by mjwx ( 966435 ) on Thursday June 16, 2022 @08:02AM (#62624630)

        Soooo, you would rather get sick, possibly maimed and maybe die than pay $15 for a vaccine? Yeah, really smart....

        I live in a country with a functioning health care service. If I need a vaccine, assuming one is safe and available, I don't need to worry about cost up front.

        However to answer your question more directly, I've taken a few optional vaccines for travel (Hep A/B, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, stuff that doesn't really exist in the west) which aren't covered by a universal health care system and a bit more expensive than $15 and I didn't even look twice. None of the illnesses I've been vaccinated for look like fun to have.

    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday June 16, 2022 @02:56AM (#62624072)

      Big Pharma is no different to anyone else who profits off me. I hope they profit from this.
      Just like the farmer profits from growing me food.
      Just like the supermarket profits from giving me such a wide selection and making feeding myself easy.
      Just like Slashdot profits by providing me a daily opportunity to laugh at people making stupid posts. (Thanks by the way).

      Now if you'll excuse me it's time for Reckitt Benckiser to profit. I have a sore through and their soothing lozenges work a treat.

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        There has to be some balance. Here the supermarkets are making record profits, partially on the backs of farmers, who are losing money in many (most?) cases.

    • Promiscuity: the gift that keeps on giving, to big pharma at least.

    • Can't wait till big pharma profit off this.

      Said someone in the 1980s regarding aids.

  • by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 ) on Wednesday June 15, 2022 @08:52PM (#62623560)
    So, judging by the comments, Slashdotters get their medical information from fantasies that are poor knockoffs of 1984. Everything is a conspiracy.

    We've lived in a pandemic free world for so long that any disease that breaks through must be some conspiracy, and nothing to do with the fact that biology is complex and never 100% one way or the other.
    • I, for one, welcome our CIA shill overlords?
    • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Wednesday June 15, 2022 @10:11PM (#62623702)

      Indeed. This will not be the last pandemic, we had quiet on the front for too long. Also, Covid is far from over. Get vaccinated, and when the Omicron stuff comes out, get it. Vaccines are safer than ever. Not 100%, they cannot be, but a _lot_ better than getting the actual "natural" vaccination and some real health damage to go with it with pretty high probability. For example, one of the people I work for is an entusiast cyclist, she had a "mild" case before a vaccine was available and she _still_ is not back to her old performance.

      These morons just have found out they can scream "conspiracy" now, when they have no arguments and no actual understanding of the subject matter.

      • Apparently antibiotic resistance is already killing millions of people. Our modern disease free utopia is already failing.
        • by dargaud ( 518470 )
          Yeah, thanks to capitalists who fed daily doses of antibiotics to cattle so they would grow 10% faster. Those people should be hung to lampposts. Seriously, it slowly built antibioresistance there that is now spreading and all types of antibiotics now have severe forms of resistance if you are unlucky to get the wrong strain. Reminder: before antibiotics, one skin infection out of 9 led to death. Think about that next time you have a splinter.
          • Reminder: before antibiotics, one skin infection out of 9 led to death.

            This sounds suspiciously like bullshit to me. Not that it can't be true, but that it's still a horribly misleading statistic. I get skin infections now and again, I never use antibiotics for them, and they usually clear up on their own or after treatment with something hilariously mundane like witch hazel (and often repeated, uh, expression.) I've had a lot more than nine of them. I try to avoid antibiotics in general because of the negative repercussions for gut health, which relates to the health of the w

      • It's the pinnacle of hilarity to me that the same fucktards who lose their minds at the thought of a tiny, controlled dose of the mrna to manufacture on specific virus protein being injected into their shoulder have no problems with the actual live virus going and jizzing uncontrolled mrna to make every viral protein into every cell in their bodies that it can possibly can with the goal of killing them if not stopped.
    • Please, RaTG-13 is fake and everybody who understands sequencing knows it.

      Explaining the mechanism between the nCov-19 ancestor and nCov-19 without using the fake RaTG-13 sequence is the necessary first step in finding out how it arose. And, yes, the conspiracy to prevent that is obvious and real. Look at the WHO/CCP bickering and drama last week (which is long past due).

      If you can't admit that the SurgiSphere paper was a conspiracy to commit medical and ethical fraud, don't bother being part of this partic

  • Is it really much of a danger if you, say, don't frequent BDSM gay raves?

    https://www.nbcnews.com/health... [nbcnews.com]

    Yeah, that was the primary spreading event in Europe.
    Funny how that doesn't get a lot of coverage. I wonder why?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      Yeah, that was the primary spreading event in Europe. Funny how that doesn't get a lot of coverage. I wonder why?

      Because it's not actually relevant to how the disease spreads?

    • Funny how that doesn't get a lot of coverage. I wonder why?

      It has been covered and indeed gay sex doesn't increase risk more than hetero sex according to science.

    • Lots of people in this thread itching for a re-run of early-AIDS-era vilification of gay men it seems...personally I hope all such people get monkeypox by brushing against another player in a church volleyball game.

      • The tension in those locker rooms is palpable.
  • is the ukraine conflict becoming boring?

  • This one, unlike COVID, is relatively easy to avoid. Since transmission requires direct contact with bodily fluids, sores and things of that nature - just don't touch other people, at least for now. It may not be very fun, but it's not difficult.

    • Yes easy to avoid but spreading. Conclusion: we are not better at avoiding pandemic after covid, that's the funny part of the story. So next airborne disease will spread as much as covid.
  • CDC Says (Score:3, Informative)

    by OYAHHH ( 322809 ) on Thursday June 16, 2022 @12:08AM (#62623910)

    > Monkeypox virus can spread when a person comes into contact with the virus from an infected animal, infected person, or materials contaminated with the virus. The virus can also cross the placenta from the mother to her fetus. Monkeypox virus may spread from animals to people through the bite or scratch of an infected animal, by handling wild game, or through the use of products made from infected animals. The virus may also spread through direct contact with body fluids or sores on an infected person or with materials that have touched body fluids or sores, such as clothing or linens.

    Monkeypox spreads between people primarily through direct contact with infectious sores, scabs, or body fluids. It also can be spread by respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact. Monkeypox can spread during intimate contact between people, including during sex, as well as activities like kissing, cuddling, or touching parts of the body with monkeypox sores. At this time, it is not known if monkeypox can spread through semen or vaginal fluids.

    Therefore:

    The number of times I am in contact with people who have ANY of the above is 0.00000000000001 times annually.

    And my level of give a shit is as close to zero as can be.

  • Only great apes are in danger, not monkeys.

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