Scientists from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have raised the alarm over the speed at which a new strand of mpox has been spreading in the continent and have therefore declared a public health emergency.
Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya has also warned that the disease could spiral out of control if immediate steps were not taken to contain it. “This declaration is not merely a formality. It is a clarion call to action.
It is a recognition that we can no longer afford to be reactive. We must be proactive and aggressive in our efforts to contain and eliminate this threat,” he said. Similarly, health chiefs out side Africa will also be monitoring the situation to assess the risk of the outbreak spreading further.
There are three vaccines that exist but only people at risk or who have been in close contact with an infected person are usually able to have it. Dr Kaseya said there were plans to secure about 10 million doses to limit the spread of the disease in Africa.
Mpox, the high infectious disease that used to be called monkeypox, has been declared a public health emergency in Africa by the continent’s top health body.
The infection, which jumps between people through close contact, can cause symptoms such as fever, muscle aches and lesions across the body Since the beginning of the year, more than 13,700 cases and 450 deaths have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The virus, which can cause lesions across the whole body, has spread to other African countries, including Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR) Kenya and Rwanda.
The declaration of a public health emergency will help governments co-ordinate their response and potentially increase the flow of medical supplies and aid into affected areas.
On 29 July, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said the risk from the mpox virus was ‘very low’ in Europe.
Mpox spreads from animals to humans and between people through close contact with someone who is infected – including through sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.