The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday that the rapid outbreak of the monkeypox disease (MPOX) in African countries is now an international health emergency.
This is the second time in three years that the World Health Organization has designated a monkeypox epidemic as a global emergency. This organization already did this in July 2022. At that time, the monkey pox epidemic affected almost a hundred thousand people, mostly gay and bisexual men, in 116 countries of the world and nearly 200 people died.
But the threat of monkey pox is more deadly this time. Since the beginning of this year, only the Democratic Republic of Congo has reported more than 14,000 cases of monkeypox and 542 deaths. Women and children under the age of 15 are most at risk of this disease.
The threat of monkey pox is more deadly this time
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Secretary-General of the World Health Organization, said: “The detection and rapid spread of a new lineage of monkeypox in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, its identification in neighboring countries that had not previously reported monkeypox, and the possibility of further spread in Africa and beyond, are very alarming. is.”
The outbreak of monkey pox has spread in 13 African countries; Among several countries that had never registered cases of this disease before. On Tuesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared a public health emergency for the security of the continent. Last year, the African Union granted the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention the authority to make such a decision.
“It is in the best interest of countries, Africa and the world, to control the situation and contain the disease as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Nicole Lowry, executive director of the Preparedness and Response Unit at the Pandemic Preparedness Innovation Coalition, a non-profit organization that funds vaccine development. Let’s stop it.”
The designation of a public health emergency by the World Health Organization is intended to encourage member countries of the organization to begin preparing for the emergence of viruses and to share vaccines, treatment and other key resources with poorer countries.
Previous epidemics of monkeypox remained largely among queer men, and a combination of behavioral changes and vaccination reduced its onset. For example, last year, cases of the disease in the United States dropped from more than 30,000 to about 1,700.
A version of monkey pox that has been circulating in the Congo has always had a higher risk and currently, its mortality rate is around three percent; While this figure was only 0.2% in the outbreak of 2022. A monkeypox infection can cause fever, respiratory symptoms, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes, as well as skin rashes on the hands, feet, chest, mouth, or genitals.
Until recently, monkeypox was mainly spread through consumption of infected meat or close contact with infected animals and people. Most of the deaths have been in children in endemic areas of Africa suffering from malnutrition and infectious diseases such as cholera, measles and polio. According to experts, if the disease spread globally, children in developed countries will probably be less vulnerable to severe infection.
Last year, scientists discovered for the first time that a new version of monkeypox was sexually transmitted, with cases equally divided between young men and women. According to genetic analyses, around September, the virus acquired mutations that allow it to spread more easily among humans.
The new virus has not yet appeared outside of Africa. According to the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been more than 17,500 suspected and confirmed cases of monkeypox in 13 countries, with most of the deaths occurring in Congo.
