WHO confirms the death of 584 people from monkeypox in the Congo – Diario La Página – 2024-08-18 09:40:54

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the main infectious focus of mpox (monkeypox) in Africa, has recorded 548 deaths in 2024 from the disease, the government reported after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the current outbreak in several African countries an international health emergency.

“According to the latest epidemiological report, our country has recorded 15,664 potential cases and 548 deaths since the beginning of the year,” Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba said in a video posted on social media early Thursday morning.

“Currently, almost all provinces are affected,” he added.

The Congolese government has thus launched a response based on three main pillars: “awareness-raising and community mobilisation” through, for example, epidemiological surveillance measures; “health prevention” through a “national strategic vaccination plan”, among others; and the “mobilisation of international resources” from organisations such as the African Union (AU).

Kamba revealed the latest data just a day after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the declaration of mpox as a public health emergency of international concern.

WHO sees new cases likely in Europe

The WHO on Thursday warned of the imminent possibility of outbreaks of mpox in Europe, after Sweden reported a case of a dangerous variant of the virus that has so far only been diagnosed in Africa.

“It is likely that additional imported cases of clade 1 will be reported in the European region in the coming days and weeks,” the WHO warned in a statement, referring to the new variant of mpox, also known as “monkeypox.”

Clade 1 is a new strain of the virus, more dangerous and contagious than those identified so far.

Since January 2022, 38,465 cases of the disease have been recorded in 16 African countries.

In the same period, 1,456 people died, according to data published last week by the African Union’s health agency, Africa CDC.

In 2024, there has been a 160% increase in the number of cases compared to the previous year, the same source indicated.

This is the second time in two years that this infectious disease has been considered to be a potential international health threat, an alert that was raised in May last year following the global outbreak that broke out in 2022, when it was estimated that the situation was under control after its spread was contained.

The WHO stressed that this time the outbreaks are not the result of the circulation of a single variant of the virus, but of more than one, and that different levels of risk and contagion have also been observed, whereas two years ago transmission was almost exclusively sexual.

Very low risk
The case announced by Sweden’s Public Health Agency was the first outside that continent.

“The affected person became infected during a stay in a region of Africa where there is a large epidemic of mpox clade 1 subtype,” explained Olivia Wigzell, acting director of the organization, in a press conference.

The agency, however, added that “the fact that a patient with MPOX receives treatment in the country does not imply risks for the rest of the population.”

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers this risk to be very low, he added.

In a message to the AFP news agency, the health agency specified that this is the mpox 1b variant, which has been experiencing an upsurge in the DRC since September 2023.

The 26 provinces of the country of 2.3 million square kilometres have been affected, the DRC health minister said, adding that there were 15,664 potential cases since the beginning of the year.

The WHO has called for “travelers, countries and regions not to be stigmatized.”

“Only by working together, sharing data and adopting the necessary public health measures can we control the spread of this virus,” he added.

Mpox was first detected in humans in 1970 in present-day DRC (formerly Zaire).

It is a viral disease that is transmitted from animals to humans, as well as through close physical contact with a person infected by the virus.

It causes fever, muscle aches and skin lesions.