WHO on Wednesday declared the mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency, sounding its highest possible alarm over the worsening situation.
Worried by the rise in cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the spread to nearby countries, the WHO hastily convened a meeting of experts to study the outbreak.
“Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern [PHEIC]. I have accepted that advice,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.
Photo: Reuters
A PHEIC is the highest level of alarm under the International Health Regulations.
“The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern DRC, its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” Tedros said.
Tedros said many members feared the known situation in Africa was “actually the tip of the iceberg,” because without more robust surveillance, “we don’t have the full picture.”
Formerly called monkeypox, the mpox virus was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what is now the DRC.
Mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals, but can also be passed from human to human through close contact.
It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.
It is the second PHEIC in succession on mpox.
In May 2022, mpox infections surged worldwide, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men, due to the clade 2b subclade.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday raised its travel warning for seven countries.
The DRC travel warning has been raised to “Level 2: Alert,” while the travel warning for six other African countries with an occurrence of mpox outbreak or clade 1b mpox virus, including Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, have been raised to “Level 1: Watch,” the CDC said in a news release.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that the upsurge of mpox in Africa broke out in the DRC and has spread to neighboring countries with more than 15,600 reported cases and 537 deaths, mainly due to the fast spread of the clade 1b mpox virus via human-to-human transmission.
Clade Ib mpox can be transmitted via regular interpersonal contact or sexual activities, and is therefore more contagious than clade 2b, he said.
The fatality rate of clade 1b is 3.6 percent, 18 times higher than clade 2b, with most people infected being young adults and children, Lo said.
Data from the CDC showed that the mpox epidemic in Taiwan is still rising, with a cumulative total of 399 cases, including 377 domestic and 22 imported cases, since the disease was listed as “category 2 communicable disease” on June 23, 2022.
There have been 40 mpox cases this year, of which 37 have been domestic and three imported, it added.
There have not yet been any clade 1b-infected person in Taiwan, but a forum with non-governmental organizations would be convened today to strengthen hygiene education and promotion, Lo said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin, Esme Yeh and CNA
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