NAIROBI: The African Union's health watchdog said on Thursday it was “likely” to declare a public health emergency next week over the continent's growing mpox outbreak.
The decision will unlock funding to fight the outbreak, including the purchase of much-needed vaccines, and trigger a coordinated continental response to the virus.
Jean Kaseya, head of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said during an online press conference that the declaration of a health emergency is “likely” next week.
At least 16 countries out of the continent's 55 nations have been affected by mpox, according to the Africa CDC.
About 38,465 cases and 1,456 deaths have been reported in Africa since January 2022.
Of these, 887 cases and five deaths were reported last week, according to data from the Africa CDC.
“We're going from two outbreaks a week to three new outbreaks a week,” Kaseya said, adding that there is a shortage of vaccines on the continent.
Formerly known as monkeypox, mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals, but it can also be transmitted from human to human through close physical contact.
The disease causes fever, muscle pain and large boil-like skin lesions.
The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that it is urgently convening an expert committee to consider whether Africa's growing smallpox outbreak should be declared an international emergency.
“The committee will meet as soon as possible and will be made up of independent experts from a range of relevant disciplines from around the world,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.
The committee will advise him on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) – the highest alarm the WHO can sound.
Only Tedros, as WHO Director-General, can declare a PHEIC, based on expert committee advice. A declaration then triggers emergency responses in countries around the world in accordance with mandatory international health regulations.
Mpox was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
There are two subtypes of the virus: Clade I, more virulent and lethal, endemic to the Congo Basin in central Africa; and Clade II, endemic to West Africa.
As of May 2022, mpox infections have increased worldwide, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men, due to the Clade IIb subclade.
Deadlier and more transmissible than previous forms, the strain of mpox that has surged in the DRC since September, known as subclade Clade Ib, is spread from person to person.
The Clade Ib strain causes rashes all over the body, unlike other strains where lesions and rashes are usually limited to the mouth, face and genitals.
