Health chiefs are considering declaring a global emergency
Mpox has been declared a public health emergency in Africa, days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) said 'the time to act is now'.
Scientists from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) are 'alarmed' by the speed at which the new strain of mpox has been spreading.
The highly infectious disease, which can cause lesions across the whole body, has spread to other African countries, including Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda.
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Since the beginning of this year, more than 13,700 cases and 450 deaths have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last week, Africa CDC reported that mpox as been detected in 10 African countries this year.
Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya warned that the disease could spiral out of control if immediate steps were not taken to tackle the rise in cases, with health chiefs outside of the continent also assessing the risk of the outbreak spreading further.
On it's website, the NHS says mpox spreads via close contact with infected people, including via sex. In 2023 and 2024 (up to May 31) there have been a total of 220 cases of mpox reported in the UK, rising month on month, according to GovUK data.
It comes days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) convened an expert group to determine if the increasing spread of the mpox virus in Africa warrants being declared a global emergency.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing in Geneva that, given the increasing spread of mpox cases beyond Congo, he has decided to ask independent experts to advise WHO 'as soon as possible'.
The director-general said the WHO has released one million dollars (£788,000) from its emergency fund to support the response.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of the deadlier version of mpox, which can kill up 10 per cent of people, in a Congolese mining town that they feared might spread more easily among people.
In 2022, WHO declared mpox to be a global emergency after it spread to more than 70 countries, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.
Before that outbreak, the disease had mostly been seen in sporadic epidemics in central and West Africa when people came into contact with infected animals.
Western countries mostly shut down the spread of mpox with the help of vaccines and treatments, but very few of those have been available in Africa.
Maria Van Kerkhove, who leads WHO’s outbreak department, said there were numerous concerning issues in Africa’s mpox epidemic and called for a more urgent response.
“We do not want the world to sit and watch and wait,” she said. “The time (to act) is now.”