‘No need to panic’: expert says as WHO records 80 cases of monkeypox in 11 countries

Ishwar Gilada highlighted the fact that no one can say that a virus will become a pandemic. He cited the case of the coronavirus that spread from one city in China-Wuhan to the entire world, stopping it for two years

Virologist Dr. Ishwar Gilada, a globally acclaimed HIV expert credited with putting India on the world map of AIDS control, said Saturday that there is a need to study the outbreak of monkeypox that has been emerging in Europe and America.

Gilada stressed the fact that no one can say that a virus will become a pandemic. He cited the case of the coronavirus that spread from one city in China, Wuhan, to the whole world, stopping it for two years.

“No one can say with certainty that a virus will become a pandemic. Especially after Covid, which traveled from one small city to the world, stopping it for two years. But there is no need to panic. The need is to study,” Gilada told ANI news agency.

Pune | #Monkeypox is zoonotic like HIV that initially came as monkey virus called simian immunodeficiency virus. Such viruses spread in animals but jump to humans. In last 40 yrs, all infections are virals. Don’t have very potent anti-viral. Virals keep mutating: Dr Ishwar Gilada pic.twitter.com/AocCHONxev

— ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2022

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya directed the National Centre for Disease Control and ICMR to keep a close watch on the situation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted an outbreak of monkeypox. The UN Health Agency had called an emergency meeting to discuss the new virus that UKHSA warned was spreading among gay men.

WHO confirmed 80 cases of monkeypox in 11 countries so far. “There are about 80 confirmed cases so far and 50 investigations pending. More cases are likely to be reported as surveillance expands,” it added.

WHO said monkeypox is endemic in some animal populations in several countries, leading to occasional outbreaks among local people and travelers. WHO has said it is studying rare diseases to understand the extent and cause of the outbreak.

FILE PHOTO: An image created during an investigation into an outbreak of simian smallpox, which occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo, between 1996 and 1997, shows the arms and torso of a patient with skin lesions due to simian smallpox, in this undated image. obtained by Reuters on May 18, 2022. CDC/Brian W.J. Mahy/Folleto via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY/FILE PHOTO (via REUTERS).