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Africa public health body declares mpox emergency

Africa public health body declares mpox emergency
Christian Musema, a laboratory nurse, takes a sample from a child declared a suspected case Mpox - an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that spark-off a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever; at the the treatment centre in Munigi, following Mpox cases in Nyiragongo territory near Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo Jul 19, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File)
Africa's top public health body declared what it termed a "public health emergency of continental security" on Tuesday (Aug 13) over an outbreak of mpox that has spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring countries.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) had warned last week of an alarming rate of spread of the viral infection, which is transmitted through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.

Most cases are mild but it can kill.

"We declare today this public health emergency of continental security to mobilize our institutions, our collective will, and our resources to act swiftly and decisively," Director General Jean Kaseya said in a briefing that was live-streamed on Zoom.

The outbreak in Congo began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as Clade I. But the new variant, known as Clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, particularly among children.
Kaseya said in the briefing that the continent needs more than 10 million doses of the vaccine, but only about 200,000 are available. He promised that Africa CDC would work to increase the supply to the continent quickly.

"We have a clear plan to secure more than 10 million doses in Africa, starting with 3 million doses in 2024," he added, without saying where the vaccines would be sourced.
Alingo Likaka Manasse, head nurse at the Yalanga Health Centre, examines lesions on the hands of a patient in Yakusu, Tshopo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Oct 2, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File)
Vials of single doses of the Jynneos vaccine for monkeypox are seen from a cooler at a vaccination site on Aug. 29, 2022, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. African health officials said mpox cases have spiked by 160 per cent in the last year, warning the risk of further spread is high given the lack of effective treatments or vaccines on the continent. (Photo: AP/Jeenah Moon, File)
The health body said that more than 15,000 mpox cases and 461 deaths were reported on the continent this year so far, representing a 160 per cent increase from the same period last year. A total of 18 countries have reported cases.

Mpox has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades after it was first detected in humans in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.

A milder version of the virus spread to more than a hundred countries in 2022, largely through sexual contact, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern, its highest level of alert.
This image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a colourized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and colour-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick, Md. Kenya and the Central African Republic declared new outbreaks of mpox on Wednesday, Jul 31, 2024, as Africa's health officials are racing to contain the spread of the disease in a region lacking vaccines. (NIAID via AP, File)
The WHO ended the emergency 10 months later, saying the health crisis had come under control.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a second health alert last week to notify clinicians and health departments about the deadly new strain.

Also last week, Africa CDC said it had been granted US$10.4 million in emergency funding from the Africa Union for its mpox response.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has promised to convene an emergency committee to discuss whether the outbreak in Congo represents a public health emergency of international concern.
Source: Reuters/fs

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