Since the current outbreak began in January 2023, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has recorded 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, predominantly among children.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Wednesday that the spread of monkeypox, also known as Mpox, in Africa has been classified as a global health emergency.
This statement follows the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declaring the virus a public health emergency across the continent.
On Friday, Pakistan reported a positive case, making it the second country outside Africa to do so. The individual had recently returned from a Gulf country. Pakistani health officials indicated that testing is underway to identify the specific variant.
New variant: ‘clade Ib’
The recent outbreak is linked to a new variant called “clade Ib”, an offshoot of clade I, originating in the African Congo. Swedish authorities have noted that clade Ib spreads mainly through household contacts and often affects children.
In contrast, group IIb, responsible for a previous WHO global alert in 2022, was transmitted primarily through sexual contact. The July 2022 outbreak infected nearly 100,000 people, predominantly gay and bisexual men, in 116 countries and caused around 200 deaths. India reported 27 cases and one death during that period.
Although clade Ib causes a similar disease to clade IIb, it is thought to spread more rapidly and has a greater potential to cause deaths. Clade II, native to West Africa, has a mortality rate of up to 1 percent (about one in 100 cases is fatal), but reports suggest that clade I may have a mortality rate of up to 10 percent.
Cases mostly among children
Since the current outbreak began in January 2023, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has recorded 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, predominantly among children. More than 15,000 cases and 548 deaths have been recorded this year alone. The increase in cases and deaths has also caused the disease to spread to Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
Symptoms of mpox
Mpox is a virus related to the smallpox family. It typically causes blisters or sores that may persist for 2 to 4 weeks. The illness may begin with symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes. Blisters may develop on the face, palms of the hands, soles of the feet, groin, genital and anal areas, and may also appear in the mouth, throat, and eyes. While symptoms usually go away on their own within a few weeks, with medications available to control pain or fever, Mpox can sometimes lead to serious complications and even be fatal in some cases.
Vaccines
In January 2022, the European Medicines Agency approved the use of Tecovirimat, an antiviral originally developed for smallpox, to treat smallpox albicans. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), such drugs are usually reserved for rare situations.
In addition, there are three smallpox vaccines (MVA-BN, LC16 and OrthopoxVac), which were originally developed for smallpox. WHO recommends that vaccination be targeted at people at risk, such as close contacts of infected individuals, rather than widespread immunization campaigns.
First published: August 17, 2024 | 11:22 am IS
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