Browsing: mpox cases Africa

• Statistics show that the spread of mpox continues to worsen in Africa with over 2,500 new cases recorded in the last week alone.
• Epicentres the DRC and Burundi account for 86.7% of all new confirmed cases reported during the past week.
• To counter the disease spread, partners are supplying vaccines to nine hard-hit countries.

Mpox outbreak is reportedly worsening in Africa as the number of cases crossed 50,000 mark, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned.

The threat was announced at a media brief on Thursday by Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya, who highlighted that 19 African countries have reported 50,840 mpox cases, with 10,741 confirmed and 1,083 deaths since the start of this year.

“During last week alone, the continent reported 2,532 new cases, including 345 confirmed cases and 32 new deaths,” he reported.

According to the CDC Director-General, data from …

• WHO’s move aims to galvanize a coordinated international response to contain and mitigate the spread of mpox.
• An uptick in cases, especially in Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, along with sporadic cases in Europe, prompted the WHO’s emergency declaration.
• Despite these concerns, mpox is not likely to evolve into a pandemic akin to COVID-19.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This decision underscores the escalating threat posed by the virus, which surged globally in 2022 but has since seen a troubling resurgence, particularly in Africa. The WHO’s move aims to galvanize a coordinated international response to contain and mitigate the spread of mpox, a virus with significant public health implications.

Mpox, a member of the same viral family as smallpox, is a rare but severe infection. It manifests through symptoms akin to chickenpox, including fevers, swollen …

• Suspected mpox cases across the continent have surged past 17,000—a sharp increase from 7,146 cases in 2022 and 14,957 cases in 2023.
• The disease has rapidly spread from the epicentre, DRC to at least 13 African countries, including nations previously unaffected such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
• Already, Africa CDC has entered into an alliance to provide over 215,000 doses of the MVA-BN® vaccine—the only Mpox vaccine approved by the FDA and EMA.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has declared the ongoing Mpox outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS).

This declaration is the first of its kind since the agency’s establishment in 2017, marking a critical moment in Africa’s public health scene even as authorities step up measures to tackle an outbreak of this deadly disease.

Under the authority granted by Article 3, Paragraph F of the Africa CDC Statutes, …