Mpox, also known as monkeypox, has reached outbreak levels in some African countries, officials warn.
The World Health Organization’s director-general said the United Nations health body is considering declaring an emergency for mpox, also known as monkeypox, amid an outbreak in Africa.
By Tuesday, it was unclear when the WHO would declare the emergency or issue any warnings about the virus.
“A further scaling up of the mpox response underway in affected countries is urgently needed amid the expanding outbreak,” his statement said, calling for “more funding for a comprehensive response” that factors in diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.
A public health emergency of international concern is the strongest designation for an outbreak. Notably, such a declaration was made for COVID-19 during the early onset of the pandemic in 2020.
Later, WHO made the designation for an mpox outbreak that lasted from 2022 to 2023, while President Joe Biden’s administration declared an emergency over the virus. During that outbreak, which impacted Europe and the United States, officials say mpox primarily spread via sexual contact between men.
The latest announcement was made as the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report last week that mpox has now been detected in 10 African countries this year, including Congo, which has more than 96 percent of all cases and deaths.
Officials said nearly 70 percent of cases in Congo are affecting children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85 percent of deaths.
Burundi and Rwanda both reported the virus for the first time this week, while new outbreaks were recently reported in the Central African Republic and Kenya.
“We are very concerned about the cases of monkeypox, which is ravaging (the capital region),” the Central African Republic’s public health minister, Pierre Somse, said on Monday.
“Both individuals presented with symptoms such as skin rash, swollen lymph nodes, and general malaise, which are consistent with mpox,” the Ugandan Health Ministry stated.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s Health Ministry recently said it found mpox in a passenger traveling from Uganda to Rwanda at a border crossing in southern Kenya. In a statement, the ministry said that a single mpox case was enough to warrant an outbreak declaration.
“Contact tracing and monitoring activities are ongoing in the affected communities in both provinces, and the Department urges all the identified contacts to cooperate with health officials during contact tracing for screening and possible diagnosis to prevent further transmission of this preventable and treatable disease,” the South Africa Health Department said in a statement, published on Aug. 4.
Other symptoms include fever, swollen lymph nodes, chills, aches, exhaustion, and respiratory symptoms such as a cough, nasal congestion, or sore throat, according to the health agency.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.