Dr. Olivier Ngajole, medical advisor to the MEDAIR, talks with Dr. Pascaline Kahindo about the evolution of Mpox at the treatment centre in Munigi in Democratic Republic of the Congo last month.Arlette Bashizi/Reuters
The World Health Organization has declared that the fast-surging mpox outbreak in Africa is a global public-health emergency, with the virus increasingly jeopardizing the lives of children and posing a threat of spreading to other regions of the world.
A dangerous variant of the virus has spread to several new countries this year, and the potential that it could reach beyond Africa is “very worrying,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Wednesday.
“It’s clear that a co-ordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” he told a briefing in Geneva.
The virus, formerly known as monkeypox, has killed 524 people in Africa this year, he said. More than 17,000 cases have been recorded, an increase of 160 per cent over the same period last year, and about 60 per cent of cases are now in children.
The Public Health Agency of Canada, in a statement late on Wednesday, said it is “actively working” with an international vaccine alliance to consider possible vaccine donations or other measures to help African countries.
Last week the agency told The Globe and Mail that it had no plans to share Canada’s stockpile of vaccines. Based on publicly available information, Canada has a stockpile of at least two million mpox vaccine doses, following a US$470-million supply contract that it signed with a manufacturer in 2022, according to Adam Houston, medical policy and advocacy adviser at Doctors Without Borders Canada.
In its statement, PHAC said Canada has not recorded any cases of the mpox variant, which is believed to be more severe. The risk to people in Canada “remains low at this time” but the government is “closely monitoring” the situation in Africa, the statement said.
The mpox virus, explained: Symptoms, vaccines, spread and more
Dr. Tedros said he declared the global emergency on the advice of an expert scientific committee that met on Wednesday. Fifteen of the committee’s members attended the meeting and decided that the mpox outbreak met the criteria for a global emergency.
“In the view of all members – it was unanimous – the current upsurge of mpox is an extraordinary event,” said Dimie Ogoina, a Nigerian infectious disease expert who chaired the emergency committee.
Mpox, which causes lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild. But the new variant is triggering more severe illness, and the fatality rate this year has increased to 3 to 4 per cent. While the virus is largely spread through skin-to-skin contact, it can also be transmitted by airborne contact or contaminated clothing, bedding and cooking utensils.
The number of mpox cases this year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – where more than 90 per cent of mpox cases in the current outbreak in Africa have occurred – is the largest ever recorded since the first cases were detected in the 1970s, Dr. Ogoina told the briefing.
He said it was “remarkable” that mpox is now being detected for the first time in several East African countries, including a large geographical spread in Burundi. He noted that several deaths have also been reported in South Africa.
“We believe there is already a risk of international spread and there’s also a chance it could spread beyond Africa to other regions of the world.”
Mpox vaccines likely months away even as WHO, Africa CDC discuss emergency
The emergency declaration – formally known as a “public-health emergency of international concern” – is the WHO’s highest alert level. The declaration is aimed at producing stronger surveillance and contact tracing, more preventive measures such as vaccines, and greater investment in research and medical support. The WHO says it will issue temporary recommendations to member countries in the coming days.
It is the second time the WHO has declared a global health emergency for mpox in the past two years. Africa’s leading health agency, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, declared its own continental emergency for mpox on Tuesday.
Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa CDC, told journalists that the current outbreak on the continent would be much less severe if the world had responded adequately to the WHO’s emergency declaration in 2022 by providing enough vaccines and other support to African countries at that time.
Mpox has spread rapidly this year in eastern Congo, where years of war have forced millions of people to flee their homes, often moving into overcrowded camps in which the virus can spread easily from tent to tent.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighbouring countries.
Reuters
Infants as young as two weeks old have been infected by the virus in overcrowded hospitals, Congolese health workers say.
The Africa CDC is trying to gather 10 million vaccine doses from international donations to respond to the mpox outbreak, but it has only obtained 200,000 doses so far.
On Tuesday, public-health officials in Toronto urged those at risk for mpox to get vaccinated amid a spike in cases in the city. As of July 31, there have been 93 confirmed cases of mpox, up from 21 cases reported during the same period last year, Toronto Public Health said.
With a report from Xiao Xu