A vial of smallpox vaccine at the Valley AIDS Council’s Westbrook clinic on December 10, 2022 in McAllen, Texas. MICHAEL GONZALEZ/AP/SIPA
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The African Union’s health agency, Africa CDC, said “a public health emergency”its highest level of alert, in the face of the ongoing MPOX epidemic in several countries on the continent, its director announced on Tuesday, August 13.
“MPOX has now crossed borders, affecting thousands of people across our continent (…) I announce, with a heavy heart but with an unwavering commitment to our people, to our African citizens, that we are declaring MPOX a public health emergency” continental, said Africa CDC President Jean Kasenya at a press conference.
“This statement is not a mere formality, it is a clear call to action. It is a recognition that we can no longer afford to be reactive. We must be proactive and aggressive in our efforts to contain and eliminate this scourge.”he added.
38,465 cases recorded in 16 African countries
This announcement, which will notably make it possible to release funds for access to vaccines and to have a continental response, comes on the eve of the meeting of the emergency committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess whether it is necessary to declare the highest level of health alert at the international level in the face of this disease.
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Formerly known as monkeypox, MPOX is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted through close physical contact with a person infected with the virus.
A total of 38,465 cases have been recorded in 16 African countries since January 2022, with 1,456 deaths, including a 160% increase in cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data released last week by the Africa CDC.
A new strain detected in 2023
The continent is facing the spread of a new strain, detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in September 2023 and called “Clade Ib”, more deadly and more transmissible than the previous ones.
The « Clade Ib” causes rashes all over the body, while previous strains were characterized by localized rashes and lesions on the mouth, face or genitals.
MPOX was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what is now the DRC (formerly Zaire), with the spread of the Clade I subtype (of which the new variant is a mutation) since then mainly limited to countries in western and central Africa, with patients generally being contaminated by infected animals.
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In 2022, a global epidemic, carried by subtype clade 2, spread to about 100 countries where the disease was not endemic, affecting mainly homosexual and bisexual men.
The WHO then declared maximum alert in July 2022 in the face of this surge in cases worldwide, then lifted it less than a year later, in May 2023. The epidemic caused some 140 deaths out of around 90,000 cases.
By Le Nouvel Obs with AFP
