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The World Health Organization declared Mpox a global health emergency on Wednesday in response to the rising number of cases in both Africa and other continents.
Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox, but causes milder symptoms such as fever, chills and body aches. People with more severe cases may develop characteristic lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.
Formerly known as monkeypox, the virus was first identified by scientists in 1958 when outbreaks of a “smallpox-like” disease occurred in monkeys. The name was changed to Mpox because it is inaccurate, as scientists suspected that the virus might actually have originated in rodents.
This week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the emergence and spread of a new variant of Mpox as “very worrying.”
“It is clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” he said, expressing concern about the spread of the virus across international borders.
The first case reported outside Africa was found in Sweden. In Thailand, too, authorities were trying on Wednesday to determine the strain of an Mpox case in a European who had traveled from Africa the previous week.
In Africa alone, more than 17,000 MPOX cases and 524 deaths have been reported this year, with more than 96 percent of deaths coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the second time in two years that the WHO has expressed deep concern about the virus, which first attracted global attention in 2022.
With its emergency declaration, the WHO wants to encourage donor organizations and countries to act. But the global reaction to previous declarations has been mixed.
Africa CDC Director General Dr Jean Kaseya said his own agency’s declaration of a public health emergency served to “mobilize our institutions, our collective will and our resources to act swiftly and decisively.” He appealed to Africa’s international partners for help, saying the rising number of cases in Africa had been largely ignored.
“It’s clear that current control strategies are not working and there is clearly a need for more resources,” said Michael Marks, professor of medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “If a (global emergency declaration) is the mechanism to get these things going, then it is justified,” he said.
For decades, most cases of MPOX affected people in Central and West Africa who had close contact with infected animals.
The WHO first declared a Mpox emergency in 2022 when transmission of the virus through sex was first confirmed. This triggered outbreaks in over 70 countries worldwide where no cases had previously been reported.
Following a sustained campaign to provide vaccines, cases declined dramatically. However, the disease remained endemic in certain parts of Africa where vaccines could not be delivered.
The number of cases has risen dramatically this year and already exceeds the number of last year. Last week, the Africa CDC reported that Mpox has now been detected in at least 13 African countries. Compared to the same period last year, cases have increased by 160 percent and deaths by 19 percent, the agency said.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of Mpox in a Congolese mining town that can kill up to ten percent of the population and may spread more easily.
Unlike previous Mpox outbreaks, where lesions mainly appeared on the chest, hands and feet, the new form of Mpox causes milder symptoms and lesions on the genitals. This makes the disease harder to detect, meaning people can also infect others without knowing they are infected.
In the 2022 global Mpox outbreak, gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases and the virus was spread primarily through close contact, including sex.
Although similar patterns can be seen in Africa, in Congo more than 70 percent of MPOX cases and 85 percent of deaths are now in children under 15 years of age.
Ahead of the emergency meeting, Tedros said authorities were dealing with multiple MPOX outbreaks in several countries, with “different transmission routes and different risk levels.”
“Stopping these outbreaks requires a tailored and comprehensive response,” he said.
According to the WHO, Mpox was recently detected for the first time in four East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. All of these outbreaks are linked to the epidemic in Congo.
“This is an outbreak that has been simmering and spreading for a year now,” Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health who has advised the WHO on Mpox, was told by the WashingtonPost“I’m not entirely sure why it took them so long,” he added, referring to the emergency declaration.
“Now that it is done, we must act quickly to ensure that the Democratic Republic of Congo receives all the resources it needs to combat the outbreak.”
A person in Sweden has been diagnosed with MPOX caused by the Clade I variant, the first such case outside Africa.
There are two different clades of the Mpox virus: Clade I and Clade II. Clade II was responsible for the global outbreak that began in 2022. Clade I is considered more severe and is classified as an infectious disease with serious consequences.
According to the Swedish Health Authority, the person became infected with the virus during a stay in a part of Africa where a major outbreak of the Impox clade was occurring.
Clade I is more likely to cause severe disease and higher mortality than Clade IIb – the variant previously found in Sweden. Although the risk to the general population remains very low, the Health Authority said authorities are closely monitoring the situation.
Sweden has taken measures to control infection and no further steps are currently necessary, it said.
MPXV – a virus related to smallpox – causes a rash that can range from mild and localized to severe and widespread.
Reuters reported on Friday that China will monitor people and goods entering the country for MPOX over the next six months after the World Health Organization declared the virus a global health emergency again.
People from countries with MPOX outbreaks who have had contact with cases or are showing symptoms must report to customs. Vehicles and goods from affected areas should be disinfected.
In China, Mpox is a category B infectious disease, which allows for emergency measures in case of outbreaks.
The World Health Organization has released $1.45 million from its emergency fund to support “surveillance, preparedness and response measures” to contain the spread of the virus. However, up to $15 million would be needed to effectively ramp up the system.
