On Aug. 14, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared that the upsurge of the infectious viral disease mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).
According to a press release from the WHO, Dr. Tedros’s declaration came on the advice of an IHR Emergency Committee of independent experts. The Committee informed the Director-General that it considers the upsurge of mpox to be a PHEIC, with the potential to spread further across African countries and possibly outside the continent.
In declaring the PHEIC, Dr Tedros said, “The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighbouring countries are very worrying. On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.”
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said, “Significant efforts are already underway in close collaboration with communities and governments, with our country teams working on the frontlines to help reinforce measures to curb pox. With the growing spread of the virus, we’re scaling up further through coordinated international action to support countries bring the outbreaks to an end.”
According to Committee Chair Professor Dimie Ogoina, “The current upsurge of mpox in parts of Africa, along with the spread of a new sexually transmissible strain of the monkeypox virus, is an emergency, not only for Africa, but for the entire globe. Mpox, originating in Africa, was neglected there and later caused a global outbreak in 2022. It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself.”
The 2023 emergence and rapid spread of a new virus strain in DRC, clade 1b, which appears to be spreading mainly through sexual networks, and its detection in countries neighbouring the DRC is especially concerning and one of the main reasons for the declaration of the PHEIC.
According to the WHO, in the past month, more than 100 laboratory-confirmed cases of clade 1b have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported mpox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Experts believe the true number of cases is higher as many clinically compatible cases have not been tested.
Several outbreaks of different clades of mpox have occurred in various countries, with different modes of transmission and a range of risk levels.
Last year, the American Academy of Dermatology released a guidance document to help the public recognize the signs and symptoms of the disease.
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