World Health Organization forced to tell people not to attack monkeys over monkeypox

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has been forced to ask people not to attack monkeys and other animals as monkeypox cases continue to rise globally.

The Washington Post claims WHO’s plea comes as the primates have been physically attacked, and in some cases killed, in Brazil, with at least 10 monkeys reportedly showing signs of being poisoned in the past week.

Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday (9 August): “What people need to know very clearly is the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans to humans.

“They should certainly not be attacking any animals.

“It’s close-contact transmission. So the concern should be about where it’s transmitting in the human population and what humans can do to protect themselves from getting it and transmitting it.”

Harris added that the monkeypox virus is actually found “much more commonly in various rodents” than in monkeys.

Brazilian newspaper G1 reported the Environmental Military Police will now be reinforcing its patrolling in forested areas of Rio Preto in a bid to prevent attacks on monkeys.

Maurício Lacerda, virologist at Faculty of Medicine of Rio Preto, told the newspaper: “What we are seeing in Brazil, Europe and the United States is person-to-person transmission.

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“There is no evidence of monkeypox virus circulating in monkeys in the Brazil. There is no need to panic, there is no need to avoid the monkeys.”

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