According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the UN agency and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, are increasing their efforts to interrupt transmission of the virus. “But more funding and support are needed for a global response,” he said on X. “I am considering convening an emergency committee on international health regulations to advise me on whether the mpox outbreak should be declared a public health emergency of international concern.”
As a deadlier strain of #mpox spreads to multiple African countries, @WHO, @AfricaCDClocal governments and partners are further scaling up the response to interrupt disease transmission. But more funding and support for a comprehensive response are needed.
I am considering…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) August 4, 2024
New strain of the virus
This qualification is the highest alert that the WHO can trigger and it is the head of the WHO who can launch it on the advice of the committee.
On July 11, WHO warned of the global health threat posed by MPOX, expressing concern about an outbreak of a new, more deadly strain of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda have announced multiple cases of MPOX. The DRC has reported more than 11,000 cases, including 450 deaths.
The virus was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the spread of the Clade 1 subtype since then mainly limited to countries in western and central Africa, with patients usually being infected by infected animals, for example by eating bushmeat.
