Scientists from the health agency Africa CDC have expressed concern over the recent sharp increase in the number of mpox cases. It has declared an emergency so that better measures can be taken.
Over the past two years, nearly 40,000 cases of mpox have been reported in sixteen African countries, resulting in more than 1,450 deaths. This year, the number of infections has increased significantly compared to 2023. The infectious virus, previously known as monkeypox, has now spread to at least thirteen African countries, including countries that had previously not been affected by it, such as Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. So far in 2024, these thirteen countries have confirmed 2,863 cases and 517 deaths, mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where children sick become.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) then reportedt by early August 2024, there will be more than 17,000 suspected mpox cases across the continent. That is a significant increase from the 7,146 cases in 2022 and the 14,957 cases in all of 2023. “This is just the tip of the iceberg given the many weaknesses in surveillance, laboratory testing and source and contact tracing,” the health agency said in a statement.
New variant
In particular, a new variant, which is more deadly, is worrying researchers. This second variant is more contagiousas reported in the journal Nature, and causes a rash all over the body and not just on the face and genitals, as with the first strain of the virus.
The affected countries are receiving support. For example, Africa CDC has signed a cooperation agreement with the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) of the European Commission and the Danish company Bavarian Nordic om to deliver more than 215 thousand doses of the mpox vaccine.
In 2022, there was a global outbreak of mpox, which was first identified in 1970 in what was then Zaire (now Congo). The Netherlands was also affected in 2022, it was a notifiable disease for six months and tens of thousands of people were vaccinated. Since the start of the outbreak in April 2022 up to and including 27 June 2024, mpox has been diagnosed in 1306 people in the Netherlands.
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