Monkey: WHO calls for “urgent action” to control disease in Europe

31 countries have been affected by the monkey flu. Most cases were reported by men who had sex with other men, but some children also had it.

“Today I am intensifying my call to governments and civil society to intensify efforts to prevent malaria from establishing itself in a growing geographic area,” said the WHO Regional Director for Europe.

“Urgent and concerted action is necessary if we want … to reverse the continued spread of this disease,” he added, according to AFP news agency.

He warned that Europe was still at the center of the outbreak and that the risk was high.

He stressed that 90 percent of laboratory-confirmed infections worldwide were recorded in Europe.

According to data released by the European Center for Disease Control, Britain records the highest number of infections (1076), followed by Germany (838), Spain (736), Portugal (365) and France (350).

The Danish laboratory “Bavarian Nordic” – the only laboratory licensed to manufacture the monkeypox vaccine – announced that it would ship 2.5 million doses to the United States.

As part of a major push for the country’s immunization strategy, US health officials said on Tuesday they were immediately sending 56,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine – five times the number distributed so far – to areas where the disease is endemic.

On Tuesday, the European Medicines Agency announced it would begin a review of the smallpox vaccine to expand its use against monkeypox.

Before the monkey was exterminated in 1980, it was associated with smallpox, which killed millions of people around the world annually, but its symptoms were much less severe.

The disease starts with a fever and quickly progresses to a rash. Symptoms are usually mild and disappear on their own after two to three weeks.