Geneva, 15 August 2024 (TDI): The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak in parts of Africa a public health emergency of global concern.
The highly contagious disease has killed at least 450 people during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It has now spread across parts of central and east Africa, and experts are concerned about how fast a new variant of the illness is spreading and its high fatality rate.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very concerning.
A co-ordinated global response is essential to stop this outbreak and save lives, he said.
Mpox is transmitted through close contact, such as skin-to-skin contact, sex, and talking or breathing close to another person.
It causes flu-like symptoms, skin lesions and can be fatal, with 4 in 100 cases leading to death.
Outbreaks can be controlled by preventing infections with vaccines, though these are usually only available for individuals at risk or those who have been in close contact with an infected person.
There are two main types of mpox – Clade One and Clade Two.
A previous mpox public health emergency, declared in 2022, was caused by the relatively mild Clade Two. However, this time it is the far more fatal Clade One- which has killed up to 10 percent of those getting sick in previous outbreaks – that is surging.
There was a change in the virus around September 2023. Mutations resulted in an offshoot – called Clade 1b – that has since spread rapidly. This new variant has been declared “the most dangerous yet” by one scientist.
Since the start of the year, there have been over 13,700 cases of mpox in the DR Congo, with at least 450 fatalities.
It has since been detected in other African nations – including Burundi, Kenya, the Central African Republic, and Rwanda.
It is hoped the declaration of monkeypox as a public health emergency will lead to research, funding, and the introduction of other global public health measures being accelerated.
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Dr Josie Golding, from the Wellcome Trust, said it was a ” powerful signal”, while Emory University’s Dr Boghuma Titanji said the move highlighted the gravity of the crisis.
Prof Trudie Lang, the director of the Global Health Network at the University of Oxford, said it was timely and important. But, he added, the emergence of a new variant meant there were “many unknowns that need to be addressed”.
In July 2022 the milder Clade Two variant of mpox spread to nearly one hundred countries, including some in Europe and Asia.
It spread rapidly, and there were over 87,000 cases and 140 fatalities reported during that outbreak, according to a WHO count.
