UAE health ministry confirms first case of monkeypox

Latest: UAE officials urge caution after first monkeypox case confirmed

The UAE has recorded its first case of the monkeypox virus, the country's health ministry said on Tuesday.

The patient is a 29-year-old woman from a West African nation — officials did not specify which — and she is receiving the necessary medical care, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said in a statement carried by state news agency Wam.

The ministry statement described the patient as a visitor to the UAE.

At the weekend, officials urged hospitals and health facilities nationwide to immediately report suspected cases for further investigation.

Over the past few days, several European and North American countries including Britain, France and the US have reported cases of the rare virus, which is endemic in parts of Africa.

Medical authorities have said, however, that the risk that the disease will spread widely is low.

No deaths have been reported to date.

In a bulletin on Wednesday, the World Health Organisation's Eastern Mediterranean office said the UAE's case was the first in the region it oversees, which includes the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Worldwide, as of 23 May, 131 confirmed cases have been reported from 18 countries across different WHO regions, with an additional 106 suspected cases being investigated.

“The situation is evolving and the WHO expects there will be more cases of monkeypox identified as surveillance expands in non-endemic countries,” WHO said.

What is Monkeypox?

Monkeypox is a virus that originates in wild animals such as rodents and primates and occasionally jumps to people. It belongs to the same virus family as smallpox.

Most human cases have been discovered in Central and West Africa and outbreaks have been relatively limited.

The illness was identified by scientists in 1958 when they discovered two outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in research monkeys — which is where the virus gets its name. The first known human infection was in 1970 in a young boy in a remote part of Congo.

Undated handout file image issued by the UK Health Security Agency of the stages of monkeypox. Photo: UKHSA

What are the symptoms and how is it treated?

Most monkeypox patients experience fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.

In general, recovery takes about two to four weeks without the need to be admitted to hospital, but monkeypox can be fatal in up to 6 per cent of cases and is thought to be more severe in children.

Smallpox vaccines are effective against monkeypox and antiviral drugs are also being developed.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recommended all suspected cases be isolated and that high-risk contacts be offered a smallpox vaccine. The UK is offering high-risk contacts the smallpox vaccine and recommending anyone who might be infected to isolate until they recover.

The US has 1,000 doses of a vaccine approved for the prevention of monkeypox and smallpox, plus more than 100 million doses of an older-generation smallpox vaccine in a government stockpile, officials said.

How many monkeypox cases are there each year?

The WHO estimates there are thousands of monkeypox infections in about a dozen African countries every year. Most are in Congo, which reports about 6,000 cases annually, and Nigeria, with about 3,000 cases a year.

In the past, isolated cases of monkeypox have been spotted outside Africa, including in the US and Britain. The cases were mostly linked to travel in Africa or contact with animals from areas where the disease is more common.

In 2003, 47 people in six US states had confirmed or probable cases and caught the virus from pet prairie dogs that had been housed near imported small mammals from Ghana.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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