#GlobalHealthAlert #MpoxOutbreak #WHOAlert
Prashyant Jha
15 August 2024
Medihertz
Medihertz- Mpox Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox Outbreak in Africa a global health emergency declared by World Health organization on Wednesday
After the Democratic Republic of Congo, a deadlier strain of the virus, clade Ib, had reached four previously unaffected countries in Africa. WHO convened its emergency committee amid concerns.
They declared a public health emergency of international concern — the highest level of alarm under international health law. After The independent experts met virtually Wednesday to advise WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the severity of the outbreak.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom said “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,”
He added “The emergency committee met and advised me that the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.”
These outbreaks may require a coordinated international response, according to the organization. Also known as a PHEIC, this is a status given by WHO to “extraordinary events” that pose a public health risk to other countries through the international spread of disease.
He said “It was unanimous that the current outbreak of mpox, upsurge of mpox, is an extraordinary event,” committee Chair Dimie Ogoina said. “What we have in Africa is the tip of the iceberg. … We are not recognizing, or we don’t have the full picture of, this burden of mpox.”
On Tuesday, The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared the outbreak a public health emergency of continental security. It was the first such declaration by the agency since its inception in 2017.
according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Since the beginning of the year, more than 17,000 mpox cases and more than 500 deaths have been reported in 13 countries in Africa. It classifies the outbreak as a “very high risk event.” The highest number of cases — more than 14,000 — is in the DRC, which reported 96% of confirmed cases this month.
According to WHO. Symptoms include a fever, a painful rash, headache, muscle and back pain, low energy and enlarged lymph nodes. As per the report, Mpox is a viral disease that can spread easily between people and from infected animals. It can spread through close contact such as touching, kissing or sex, as well as through contaminated materials like sheets, clothing and needles.
WHO previously declared the spread of mpox a global health emergency in July 2022 and ended that declaration in May 2023. For decades, the disease had largely been found in Central and West Africa, but it also began spreading in Europe and North America in 2022.
As per the reports Mpox is described in two two genetic clades, I and II. In it a clade is a broad grouping of viruses that has evolved over decades and is a genetic and clinically distinct group. Clade II was responsible for the 2022 outbreak, but clade Ib causes more severe disease.
WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies, released $15 million, with $1.5 million for Use Listing process for both mpox vaccines and developed a regional response plan. The organization has signed off on the Emergency.
According to Tim Nguyen of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, Half a million doses of the vaccine are in stock, and another 2.4 million could possibly be produced by the end of the year. African Regional Emergency Director Dr. Abdou Salam Gueye added , the DRC and Nigeria will be the first to receive these vaccines.
The organization informed that vaccines are only part of the response; containing the spread will also require increased surveillance, diagnostics and research to fill “gaps in understanding.”
“We can stop transmission of mpox with a concerted effort using multiple approaches,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, director of WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty. … We have an opportunity right now to really leverage this time and support our member states to support the research that needs to be done to understand this.”
