WHO announces mpox as a global health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global health emergency as Africa faces a rapidly spreading and deadly outbreak of mpox, News.Az reports citing Politico .

The virus has been detected for the first time in numerous countries in Africa and is disproportionately affecting children. It has killed at least 517 people with more than 17,000 suspected cases across Africa so far this year, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

"The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo], its detection in neighbouring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing Wednesday evening.

Cases have surged since 2022, when the WHO last declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). More recently, an alarming new variant that first appeared in 2023 has spread within the DRC and to neighboring regions, now recorded in at least five countries.

A leading scientist in the United Kingdom has warned that Europe should also be “very concerned” because countries no longer protect citizens against mpox through smallpox vaccination.

Independent experts met on Wednesday to advise the WHO on whether it should once again declare mpox a global emergency.

As countries and experts grapple to contain the outbreak, prevent disease in those most at risk and treat people, we look at what we know so far about a new variant spreading through Africa and whether Europe should also be on high alert.

News.Az