WHO stresses monkeypox not linked to monkeys amid Brazilian attack reports

Monkeys have been attacked with stones or poison in a number of cities in Brazil, media reports say

A Callithrix monkey in an Atlantic forest area in Mairipora, Sao Paulo state, Brazil. Reuters

The World Health Organisation has stressed the current transmission of monkleypox is human to human, after a number of primates in Brazil were attacked.

WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva that monkeys could not be blamed for the surge in monkeypox cases in Brazil. This follows reports of an increase in physical attacks, involving stones, and poisonings of monkeys in the South American nation.

Local media say these incidents have occurred in a number of Brazilian cities. For example, in a natural reserve in Rio Preto, Sao Paulo state, 10 monkeys appeared to have been poisoned or intentionally injured in less than a week, news site G1 reported.

Rescuers and activists suspect the monkeys were poisoned and attacked after three monkeypox cases were confirmed in the area, G1 said.

Brazil has so far registered 1,700 cases of monkeypox and one death from the disease, the WHO said.

Globally, more than 28,100 cases and 12 deaths have been recorded, amid a global surge in monkeypox infections since May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

But Dr Harris underlined that despite its name, monkeys are not the main transmitters of the disease, and have nothing to do with the current outbreak.

Monkeypox received its name because the virus was first identified in monkeys kept for research in Denmark, but the disease is found in a number of animals, and most frequently in rodents.

While the virus can jump from animals to humans, the recent global explosion of cases is due to close-contact transmission between humans, Dr Harris said.

"The concern should be about where it (is circulating) in the human population and what humans can do to protect themselves from getting it and transmitting it," she said.

People "should certainly not be attacking any animals".

Dr Harris said the best way to rein in the virus is "if people recognise they have symptoms and go get help and medical care and take precautions to prevent it being transmitted".

That requires raising awareness among those most at risk.

Nearly all the cases so far have been among men who have sex with men, and the WHO has cautioned against stigmatisation of those infected.

"Any stigmatisation of any person infected is going to increase the transmission, because if people are afraid of identifying themselves as being infected, then they will not get care and will not take precautions," Dr Harris said.

"So do not stigmatise any animal or any human, because if you do do that, we will have a much larger outbreak."