Just when we thought we had the monkeypox menace whipped, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared an African outbreak of mpox (renamed so as not to offend monkeys, apparently), a new public health emergency.
The UN agency’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the declaration in Geneva after accepting a recommendation from WHO’s emergency committee.
As the Epoch Times notes further, Tedros said there have already been more than 14,000 reported cases and 524 reported deaths in Africa this year, a jump from last year. He also pointed to the emergence of a new mpox strain, or clade, which he described as worrying.
“In addition to other outbreaks of other clades of mpox in other parts of Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” Tedros said at a briefing.
Mpox is a virus that occurs in animals and humans. Mpox can spread between people and causes an illness that typically manifests with a rash and resolves in a few weeks. But some cases can lead to death.
Mpox has predominately affected men who have sex with other men.
A public health emergency of international concern, or global health emergency, is the highest level of alarm the WHO can convey.
It’s declared for extraordinary events deemed to constitute a public health risk to countries through the international spread of disease.
COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern in 2020.
That declaration ended in 2023 after the number of cases dropped considerably.
And as Off-Guardian opines, this is the second time in two years the WHO has declared monkeypox a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” (PHEIC). It was originally labelled such in the summer of 2022…before quietly having that status rescinded in 2023.
In truth, it was a narrative that flapped its little wings as hard as it could but never got off the ground.
They tried to label it as “the same level as leprosy and the plague”, they did the trick with the PCR tests, and they changed websites to make it seem scarier.
They followed the Covid playbook step-by-step…none of it worked.
In the end it just sort of fizzled away.
But now it’s back. This time with a new name.
There’s some talk of clades and variants and whatnot, but we’re all too familiar with this dance now to let a costume change distract from the same old routine.
We know what’s going on.
The only questions worth asking are “why now?” and “what next?”
Tyler Durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 – 18:00
