The World Health Organization decided this Friday, November 22, to maintain its highest level of alert regarding the mpox epidemic, whose number of cases and affected countries continues to increase.
“This decision was made due to the increasing number of cases and their continued geographical spread, operational challenges on the ground and the need to establish and maintain a coherent response between countries and partners,” the press release underlines.
“The Director-General of the WHO, following the advice of the Emergency Committee of the International Health Regulations, has determined that the resurgence of mpox continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern,” the organization’s highest level of health alert, which declared this ESPII on August 14 of this year.
Democratic Republic of the Congo most affected
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is by far the most affected country. This disease was long known as “monkeypox” because it is caused by a virus similar to smallpox. But health authorities no longer use this term to avoid racist connotations.
Mpox is characterized by skin lesions, such as pustules, high fever, and muscle pain. First identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1970, the disease remained confined to a dozen African countries for a long time.
But, in 2022, it began to spread to the rest of the world, particularly developed countries where the virus had never circulated.
Two simultaneous epidemics are occurring, one caused by clade 1 in Central Africa, which mainly affects children, and another by the new variant, clade 1b, which affects adults in another region, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in neighboring countries.
More than 1,000 deaths
According to figures from early November, almost 51,000 cases and 1,083 deaths related to the virus have been reported since January this year. Central Africa accounts for 85.8% of the cases and almost all (99.4%) of the registered deaths.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has recorded more than 39,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths since the beginning of the year, launched a still “limited” vaccination campaign in October, according to the Africa CDC, with some 51,000 people vaccinated for a population of more than of 100 million people.
The country, which is among the poorest in the world, must rely on vaccine donations to prioritize populations considered at risk, such as caregivers and sex workers.
Furthermore, the only vaccine used so far, manufactured by the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic, is intended only for adults. However, almost 40% of contaminations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo affect children under 15 years of age.
International health agencies have allocated around 900,000 vaccines to nine African countries most affected by the epidemic, including the Central African Republic, Rwanda and Uganda. Most of it will go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (85% of the doses).
Source: BFM TV
