Michel Terren, World Health Organization Special Representative for Israel, pointed out that “the worrying thing about monkeypox is that we don’t really understand what’s going on … we’re facing an exceptional situation that cannot be compared to the coronavirus pandemic.” because it is not the same disease, not the same family of viruses, and not the same virus transmission”, noting that “many questions remain unanswered to this day, in particular the fact of knowing how this virus can be transmitted from Africa to Europe. .

In statements to the Israeli channel I24NEWS, he added: “Is this the effect of the virus mutating? Or the result of changes in behavior after the epidemic? Or even the result of an import? At this point, we can’t say, but whatever the method is, when you have 17,000 common cases.” In 70 countries, like today, this requires special attention,” emphasizing that “the fact that this disease, which was known only in Africa, has spread throughout the world requires greater vigilance. at technical, scientific and political levels”.

Terrain emphasized: “This is the message that the WHO wanted to send by launching the highest level of alert for monkeypox… It wants to create awareness and mobilization so that this virus is not detected in the dark,” continuing: “This virus is still part of the Orthopoxviruses family, whose use is highly discouraged.