At the end of 2023, I reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that a more infectious mpox (i.e., the rebranded monkeypox) virus strain had been found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was spreading and had a higher infection fatality rate than previous virus strains that had spread during 2022’s “Monkeypox Emergency. “
Last spring, the World Health Organization (WHO) sounded the alarm about the DRC mpox outbreak. Researchers who studied the strain warned that it has ‘pandemic potential”.
Now, WHO has officially declared the ongoing monkeypox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency.
WHO convened its emergency committee amid concerns that a deadlier strain of the virus, clade Ib, had reached four previously unaffected countries in Africa. This strain had previously been contained to the Democratic Republic of Congo.The independent experts met virtually Wednesday to advise WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the severity of the outbreak. After that consultation, he announced that he had declared a public health emergency of international concern — the highest level of alarm under international health law.“The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern DRC, its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” he said.“The emergency committee met and advised me that the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.”
More than 17,000 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported in Africa for this outbreak, with 517 deaths recorded. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains the epicenter of cases, with 11,000 infections reported this year alone.
The decision for the declaration was reached after this more highly infectious and virulent strain began being reported in the Congo and in four countries in East Africa where monkeypox had never been known to occur (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda).
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of the deadlier form of mpox, which can kill up to 10% of people, in a Congolese mining town that they feared might spread more easily. Mpox mostly spreads via close contact with infected people, including through sex.Unlike in previous mpox outbreaks, where lesions were mostly seen on the chest, hands and feet, the new form causes milder symptoms and lesions on the genitals. That makes it harder to spot, meaning people might also sicken others without knowing they’re infected.In 2022, WHO declared mpox to be a global emergency after it spread to more than 70 countries that had not previously reported mpox, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.Before that outbreak, the disease had mostly been seen in sporadic outbreaks in central and West Africa when people came into close contact with infected wild animals.The more lethal Clade Ib variant appears to be transmissible through close non-sexual contact, and exacerbated by heterosexual sexual contact, ‘particularly among sex workers, who account for about 30 per cent of recorded cases’.
It might be worthwhile noting at this time that a congressional report has revealed that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Dr. Antony Fauci deceived Congress over its plans to create a Frankenstein monkeypox virus that had pandemic potential…denying it had one when, indeed, such a plan had been drafted.
Back in the US, the risk of catching either version of monkeypox is considered low…unless someone engages in certain “high risk” behaviors.
If you’re not in Central Africa, your risk has not increased. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned in May that the DRC’s outbreak poses a “global threat,” the agency continues to classify the overall risk of mpox to the general American public as “very low.”For men who have sex with other men and have multiple partners, the risk is considered “low to moderate.” However, the CDC notes that this group could be at risk if the latest version of mpox spreads to the U.S.
Health officials indicate that the new emergency designation inspires donations of diagnostic tools and vaccines from other nations to support efforts to contain and control the spread of the disease in Africa.
The 2022 outbreak of mpox in dozens of countries was largely shut down with the use of vaccines and treatments in rich countries, in addition to convincing people to avoid risky behaviour. But barely any vaccines or treatments have been available in Africa.Marks, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that immunization would likely help — including inoculating people against smallpox, a related virus.“We need a large supply of vaccine so that we can vaccinate populations most at risk,” he said, adding that would mean sex workers, children and adults living in outbreak regions.
While this outbreak is serious, it is clear from the remarks that Americans do not entirely trust global health officials or their motivations.
Let’s hope health officials have learned lessons from the COVID failures. Research and responders should focus on measures that actually work and make sense, based on the pathogen and the population impacted, and which are determined by using real scientific methods.
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