Outbreaks of diseases such as monkeypox becoming more frequent, warns WHO

By
Reuters
The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. January 29, 2020. — Reuters
The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. January 29, 2020. — Reuters

Outbreaks of endemic diseases such as monkeypox and Lassa fever are becoming more persistent and frequent, the World Health Organisation's emergency director, Mike Ryan, warned on Wednesday.

As climate change contributes to rapidly changing weather conditions like drought, animals and humans are changing their food-seeking behaviour. 

As a result, diseases that typically circulate in animals are increasingly jumping into humans, he said.

"Unfortunately, that ability to amplify that disease and move it on within our communities is increasing — so both disease emergence and disease amplification factors have increased."