WHO to review whether infectious mpox becomes an international health emergency again

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed on Wednesday that the Emergency Committee that advises him on epidemic outbreaks that may have international repercussions will analyze as soon as possible whether to declare mpox (formerly “monkeypox”) a public health emergency again.

Cases of this disease, which was already an international health emergency between 2022 and 2023, are multiplying in Africa and around fifty cases have been confirmed and there are several more suspected in four countries neighbouring the main focus of infection: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

These cases have been reported for the first time in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, while cases have also been observed in previously unaffected provinces in the DRC.

In 2022, dozens of cases were reported outside Africa, including in the United States and Latin America.

The WHO stressed that it does not recommend any travel restrictions to African countries where cases have been reported in recent months.

An expert from the organization clarified that the risk is currently considered high in the DRC and moderate in the region surrounding that immense country.

Several variants of mpox have been identified so far, the first known as variant 1, which has been circulating in Congo for several years, while variant 2 was responsible for the 2022 outbreak.

The current outbreak is caused by a sub-variant of the first, known as 1b, which causes a more severe disease than variant 2 and has been found in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa, Tedros said at a press conference.

The head of the WHO technical team that monitors the evolution of mpox, Rosamund Lewis, explained to journalists that it has been documented that variant 1b is only transmitted between people, in circles where there is sexual contact, although more and more infections are being seen within families and communities.

However, he clarified that this does not necessarily mean that it is more transmissible, an aspect that will be determined in the analyses that are still being carried out.

In families, transmission occurs through direct contact with an infected person, either through aerosols they emit, by using contaminated sheets or towels, or by sharing the same bed.

Although the proportion of affected children is lower, they are more fragile in the face of the disease.

According to data on the situation in the DRC, the mortality rate due to MPOX is 3.6%.

Geneva / EFE