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Europe in 'urgent' fight against monkeypox

Monkeypox cases tripled in Europe over the past two weeks in what WHO calls a race to prevent the virus from becoming entrenched in the region.

An electron microscope image shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions
An electron microscope image shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 U.S. prairie dog outbreak (AN/Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regnery)

GENEVA (AN) — Monkeypox cases tripled in Europe over the past two weeks in what the World Health Organization calls a race to prevent the virus from becoming entrenched in the region. African public health authorities say it's already considered an emergency in some nations.

WHO’s Europe director, Dr. Hans Kluge, said the continent remains at the center of an expanding outbreak of the virus, with almost 90 percent of lab-confirmed and globally reported monkeypox cases reported there since mid-May. New infections tripled to more than 4,500 lab-confirmed cases across 31 European nations since mid-June, he said, spreading to six new countries and areas.

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