Smallpox

Türkiye's Health Ministry has released a comprehensive 24-page guide on mpox, which has recently surged in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and has become a global threat.

The guide includes contributions from various experts and aims to educate the public and health professionals on the nature of the disease, its transmission routes and preventive measures.

Greece has initiated its monkeypox vaccination campaign as of July 22, according to an announcement by Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis. This action follows the World Health Organization's (WHO) declaration that the spread of monkeypox is a public health emergency of international concern.

Greek health authorities are on heightened alert for the prevention and early detection of mpox (monkeypox) virus cases and have announced the establishment of more vaccination centers for high-risk groups.

The worst fears of a potential spread of monkeypox from the African countries where it originated to the rest of the world have been confirmed by the World Health Organization’s announcement of the first case in a European country, specifically in Sweden.

The African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared a public health emergency across the continent due to a monkeypox outbreak affecting Central and East Africa, as reported by the BBC. The outbreak is particularly concerning because it involves a new and more dangerous variant of the virus.

As the lone laboratory manufacturing a licensed vaccine against monkeypox, Danish company Bavarian Nordic has seen its order book fill up as the usually rare disease spreads around the world.

Turkey has no monkeypox virus cases as the latest tests on four suspected patients have emerged negative, the country's health minister has said.

"Tests have been made on four patients suspected to be infected with monkeypox in Istanbul. All are negative," Fahrettin Koca tweeted late on June 4.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on June 3 it was aware of more than 700 global cases of monkeypox, including 21 in the United States, with investigations now suggesting it is spreading inside the country.

The United States is preparing to give monkeypox vaccines to close contacts of people infected and to deploy treatments, with five cases now either confirmed or probable and the number likely to rise, officials said Monday.

"Words that can express so much in a certain period are rare," Merriam-Webster said in a statement.