The epidemic is beginning to spread. Gabon confirms a first case of MPOX detected in a traveler returning from Uganda, a country affected by a variant of this virus that recently appeared in Africa, in an official press release published Thursday.
“Today, August 22, 2024, the government declares the first case of mpox in Gabon,” announces this press release from the Minister of Health received Friday. It was detected in a 30-year-old man, “living in Gabon and having stayed in the last two weeks in Uganda, a country impacted by the epidemic.” “The patient is in good general condition” and “has been isolated and taken care of,” the press release continues.
“Maximum alert”
The Gabonese Ministry of Health “has put in place measures to strengthen preparation and prevention against the importation of mpox into Gabon”, with “putting the epidemiological surveillance system on maximum alert” and “acquiring the capacity to make a diagnosis at the national level”, according to the same source.
Everything you need to know about the mpox epidemic
The resurgence of mpox in Africa, which is hitting the DRC hard, but also Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, prompted the World Health Organization, WHO, to trigger its highest level of alert at the international level in mid-August. The WHO declared the epidemic a “public health emergency of international concern”, its highest alert category.
