Comprehensive foreign media reported that in less than a week, 10 innocent monkeys in a city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo were attacked and poisoned, and similar incidents have recently occurred in other cities in Brazil, suspected that some people have abused monkeys because they are worried about the spread of monkeypox.
In a nature reserve in Preto, São Paulo state, 10 monkeys died of poisoning or violent injuries in less than a week, according to the Brazilian news website G1. Rescuers and activists suspect that the cause of death of the monkeys may be related to panic caused by the spread of the monkeypox outbreak. According to WHO data, more than 1,700 cases have been reported in Brazil to date, including 1 death.
Last month, in the city of Canedo in the Brazilian state of Goiás, two monkeys died with bruises from violence, and the city government suspected that someone had attacked the monkeys out of fear of the monkeypox outbreak.
According to the city's Environment Bureau, a monkey died on a sign at the entrance to the city, and through examination, it can be determined that the monkey was not attacked and killed by other animals. The veterinary team confirmed that the monkey had multiple wounds all over his body, all from stick or stone attacks.
After multiple attacks on primates in Brazil, the World Health Organization stressed that monkeypox outbreaks were not related to monkeys. WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a news conference: "People must know that monkeypox outbreaks are now spreading from person to person. ”
Harris said that while the virus can be transmitted from animals to humans, the recent global spread of monkeypox cases is due to close human-to-human contact. "Attention should be paid to the spread of the virus in the population and what protective measures humans should take to avoid infection," she said. Harris stressed that people "should not attack any animals."
Harris said that although monkeypox has the word "monkey" in its name, monkeys are not the main carriers of the disease and have nothing to do with the outbreak. Monkeypox got its name because the virus was originally found in monkeys raised in Denmark for research, and many animals carry the virus, most commonly in rodents.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, almost all cases of monkeypox to date have occurred in men who have sex with men, and WHO warns against stigmatization of infected people. "Stigmatizing anyone infected will facilitate the spread of the virus, and if people are afraid to let others know they are monkeypox infected, they will not be treated," Harris said. ”
Since May, nearly 90 countries around the world have reported more than 29,000 cases of monkeypox. On 23 July, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the monkeypox outbreak a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern", WHO's highest level of alert.
(Editor: Xiaoqi)