The World Health Organization expressed concern on Friday, December 15, regarding the risks of international spread of the mpox epidemic (long called monkeypox) which is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and whose sexual transmission is accelerating .
“We are concerned that there is international transmission” from the DRC, said Dr Rosamund Lewis, a WHO mpox specialist, during a press briefing in Geneva.
“The epidemic is spreading rapidly in the country” who reported this year “more than 13,000 suspected cases“, either “more than twice the number of cases reported in previous years“, and among them “more than 600 deaths“, she indicated.
The WHO had already sounded the alert at the end of November on this epidemic in the DRC, carried by variant I of the virus, and announced the sending of an evaluation mission. “The demographic picture in the newly infected areas is therefore worrying, because this is the first time we have seen that the mpox virus affects more women than men“reported Dr. Lewis.
More than 92,000 cases have been reported in 117 countries
Outbreaks of the mpox variant IIb had been observed, starting in May 2022, in Europe and the United States, outside the ten countries in central and west Africa where the disease has long been endemic, pushing WHO to declare the maximum alert level on July 23, 2022.
On May 11, the WHO lifted the alert, but called for people to remain vigilant. The epidemic had previously spread through sexual relations between men. Since May 2022, more than 92,000 cases have been reported in 117 countries, according to the WHO.
An increase in cases
Recently, the cases notified to the WHO have started to rise once more, going from around a hundred per month from June to August to “more than 1,000 per month” today, said Dr. Lewis, noting outbreaks in Asia, notably in Japan, Vietnam, China and Indonesia.
Cambodia reported its first case this week. Dr Lewis said the organization had been informed ofa suspected outbreak of cases on a cruise ship having sailed in Southeast Asia, but lacked information.
The disease – first reported in humans in 1970 in the DRC – is characterized in particular by rashes on the genitals or in the mouthand can be accompanied by outbreaks of fever, sore throat or pain in the lymph nodes.
The current epidemic in the DRC is of particular concern to the WHO because it is spreading to areas previously considered spared by mpox, including Kinshasa, Lualaba and South Kivu. And because this is the first time that sexual transmission among patients with variant I has been observed, recalled Dr. Lewis.
The WHO is also concerned regarding the level of danger of the variant (also called clade by the WHO) circulating in the DRC.
“What concerns us in the case of clade I is that it has a higher level of severity, a higher level of mortality” said Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of pandemic preparedness at WHO, during another press conference at the organization’s headquarters.
