 declared an mpox outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the Turkish Health Ministry has announced that no mpox cases have been detected in Turkey in 2024.){kind=link}
At a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an mpox outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the Turkish Health Ministry has announced that no mpox cases have been detected in Turkey in 2024.
The ministry said on X on Thursday that mpox, which is primarily seen in the African continent, has not been detected in Turkey so far in 2024, adding that there is no need for any restrictions or additional measures against the spread of the virus.
14 Ağustos 2024’te Dünya Sağlık Teşkilatı tarafından gerçekleştirilen Acil Durum Komitesi Toplantısı’nın ardından M çiçeği (mpox) hastalığının uluslararası öneme sahip bir halk sağlığı acil durumu oluşturduğu açıklanmıştır.
Özellikle Afrika kıtasında görülen M çiçeği (mpox)…
— T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı (@saglikbakanligi) August 15, 2024
The ministry said it is closely following the developments regarding the outbreak.
Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu, who spoke to reporters on Wednesday, also said the ministry is closely following the developments related to the mpox virus and COVID-19, adding that there is no need for alarm at the moment.
Turkey’s top doctors’ union, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), also released a statement on Thursday calling on the ministry and the relevant state bodies to do the necessary monitoring and take appropriate measures in addition to keeping the public regularly updated about the course of the disease.
The TTB said, based on data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that there were 12 mpox cases detected in Turkey as of September 2023. According to the CDC, there have been no mpox-related deaths in Turkey so far.
Turkey’s former health minister, Fahrettin Koca, announced the detection of the first mpox infection in the country in June 2022, but the ministry has not shared any updated figures about the number of the people infected with mpox virus so far.
Meanwhile, opposition parties such as the Republican People’s Party and the Victory Party warned the government about the possible spread of the mpox virus in the country, considering that many African students who study at Turkish universities will return to Turkey at the end of summer.
The opposition parties called on the government to reveal what exact measures it is planning to take against the spread of the virus in Turkey.
The health ministry received widespread criticism at the beginning of and during the course of the coronavirus pandemic for mismanaging the process. The TTB, opposition parties and many others accused the government of hiding the presence of the virus in Turkey at the beginning and then manipulating the number of coronavirus infections and deaths to mask the real scale of the pandemic in the country.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease that can spread easily between people and from infected animals. It can spread through close contact such as touching, kissing or sex as well as through contaminated materials like sheets, clothing and needles, according to the WHO. Symptoms include fever, painful rash, headache, muscle and back pain, low energy and enlarged lymph nodes.
This PHEIC determination is the second in two years relating to mpox. Caused by an Orthopoxvirus, mpox was first detected in humans in 1970, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The disease is considered endemic to countries in central and west Africa.
In July 2022 the multi-country outbreak of mpox was declared a PHEIC as it spread rapidly via sexual contact across a range of countries where the virus had not been seen before. That PHEIC was declared over in May 2023 after there had been a sustained decline in global cases.
