- Sabalenka outlasts local hero Zheng to win third Wuhan Open title
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Former Pakistan captain Azam dropped for second England Test
- 'Opportunist' Dupont dazzles on Toulouse return
- Australia replace injured Vlaeminck with Graham at Women's T20 World Cup
- Sinner wins Shanghai Masters to deny Djokovic 100th career title
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Israel hits Lebanon from the air and fights Hezbollah on the ground
- China's Yin has 'goosebumps' as she romps to LPGA win in Shanghai
- Pakistan to re-use Multan pitch for second England Test
- Blair and King Charles hail Salmond's 'devotion' to Scotland
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- England captain Stokes in line for second Pakistan Test return
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- Israel widens Lebanon strikes as troops fight Hezbollah along border
- Bowlers' graveyards: Pakistan's placid pitches under fresh fire
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Vietnam, China to expand rail links, cross-border payments
- Americans get their belief back as Pochettino makes his mark
- Vietnam, China to boost economic, defence cooperation
- Winning start for Pochettino's American adventure
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- US firms brace for more tariffs as election approaches
- Winning start for Poch's American adventure
- Morocco's tribeswomen see facial tattoo tradition fade
- Centre-left set to win as pro-Ukraine Lithuania votes
- Colombia guerilla group urges delegations not to attend COP16 in Cali
- Pakistan frets over security ahead of SCO summit
- Ronaldo scores 133rd Portugal goal in Nations League win over Poland
- 40 nations contributing to UN Lebanon peacekeeping force condemn 'attacks'
- Eight dead as heavy rain thrashes Brazil after long drought
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- Morocco crush Central African Republic, Guirassy scores hat-trick
- Dupont scores quickfire hat-trick on Toulouse Top 14 return
- Ronaldo scores in Portugal's Nations League win as Spain sink Denmark
- Interim boss Carsley has not applied for England job
- Mets hurler Senga ready to take on Dodgers in game one of NL Championship Series
- Ronaldo on target again as Portugal defeat Poland in Nations League
- Guardians rip Tigers 7-3 to advance in MLB playoffs
- AFP, BBC win top French war reporting awards
- Carsley goes back to basics as humbled England face Finland
- Alex Salmond: the man who took Scotland to the brink of independence
- Scotland's former leader Alex Salmond dies aged 69: party
- UN warns of catastrophe as Israel fights a two-front war
- Croatia extend Scotland's losing streak
- South Africa, New Zealand boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes
- 'Very challenging': Israel faces Hezbollah in tricky terrain
No concern yet monkeypox will cause pandemic: WHO
The WHO said Monday it was not concerned for now that the spread of monkeypox beyond the African countries where it is typically found could spark a global pandemic.
Since Britain first reported a confirmed monkeypox case on May 7, nearly 400 suspected and confirmed cases have been reported to the World Health Organization in nearly two dozen countries far from the states where the virus is endemic.
The UN health agency has voiced concern at this "unusual situation", but reiterated Monday that there was no reason to panic over the virus, which spreads through close contact and usually does not cause severe disease.
Asked during an epidemiological briefing whether the virus, which is endemic in a range of west and central African nations, might provoke another pandemic, WHO's top monkeypox expert Rosamund Lewis acknowledged that "we don't know."
But "we don't think so," she said. "At the moment, we are not concerned of a global pandemic."
It was important, she said, to take rapid steps to rein in the spread of the virus.
"It is still possible to stop this outbreak before it gets larger," she told an online public forum.
"I don't think we should be scared collectively."
Monkeypox is related to smallpox, which killed millions around the world every year before it was eradicated in 1980.
But monkeypox is much less severe, and most people recover within three to four weeks.
The initial symptoms include a high fever, swollen lymph nodes and a blistery chickenpox-like rash.
- 'Not a gay disease' -
Experts are trying to determine why the virus has suddenly begun spreading in countries where it has never been seen before, and mainly among young men.
One theory is that monkeypox is spreading more easily among people under the age of 45, who would not have been vaccinated against smallpox.
Vaccines developed for smallpox have also been found to be about 85 percent effective in preventing monkeypox, but they are in short supply.
Experts worry monkeypox could take advantage of the gaps in global immunity to fill the smallpox void.
"We are concerned that it will replace smallpox and we really don't want that to happen," said Lewis, who also heads WHO's smallpox secretariat.
She stressed the importance of raising awareness among those who might be at risk, detecting cases early, isolating those infected and tracking their contacts.
"If we all react quickly, and we all work together, we will be able to stop this ... before it reaches more vulnerable people," she said.
So far, many of the cases have been linked to young men who have sex with men.
Experts stress there is no evidence that monkeypox is transmitted sexually, but suggest there may have been several so-called amplifying events where members of the LGBTQ community have been gathered in close proximity.
"This is not a gay disease," Andy Seale of WHO's sexually transmitted infections programme told the public forum, stressing that the virus could spread among any group of people in crowded spaces with close skin-to-skin contact.
Sylvie Briand, WHO's epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention chief, acknowledged that "respiratory transmission" was also happening.
But she said it still remained unclear if that transmission was "mostly through droplets or could be airborne."
"There are still many unknowns," she said told Monday's epidemiological briefing.
A.Malone--AMWN