Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a severe outbreak of Mpox (formerly Monkeypox), with more than 14,000 reported cases and 511 deaths so far this year, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Importantly, the deadly virus has been spread to four countries neighboring the DRC — Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda — that have not been reported.
The WHO chief is also convening an emergency committee under the International Health Regulations (IHR) to decide “whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)”.
The committee made up of independent global experts is soon expected to meet.
PHEIC is the highest health alarm by the WHO.
Since 2009, PHEIC has been declared seven times for H1N1 swine flu, poliovirus, Ebola, Zika virus, Ebola again, Covid-19, and Mpox.
Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and west Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.
It was first identified in monkeys in research laboratories in the 1950s, and it was not until 1970 that the first human case was discovered.
DRC has been experiencing Mpox outbreaks for decades.
However, the cases seen from January to June this year “match the number reported in all of last year,” the WHO chief said, adding that about 50 confirmed and more suspected cases have been reported from previously unaffected provinces of Africa.
The severe Mpox outbreaks are caused by different viruses that are called Clades.
While Clade 1 has been circulating in the DRC for years, Clade 2 was responsible for the global outbreak which began in 2022 — 94,707 confirmed cases in 107 countries.
Currently, the Eastern DRC is facing Mpox outbreaks due to “a new offshoot of Clade 1, called Clade 1b, which causes more severe disease than Clade 2”.
Ghebreyesus noted that Clade 1b has also been confirmed in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, while the Clade in Burundi is still being analyzed.
A recent study by the University of Oxford in the UK showed that Clade 1B has a mortality rate of 5 percent in adults and 10 percent in children.
It can also affect men and women without sexual contact; and children; as well as cause miscarriages and stillbirths, they noted.
Meanwhile, the WHO has also approved two vaccines for Mpox and also “the process for Emergency Use Listing of both vaccines, which will accelerate vaccine access, particularly for lower-income countries, which have not yet issued their own national regulatory approval,” Ghebreyesus said.
