Kinshasa, DR Congo:

Mpox cases and deaths are rising in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the central African country awaits vaccines from the United States and Japan, the health minister said on Monday.

The count this year has risen in a few days from 16,000 cases and 548 deaths to 16,700 cases and “a little more than 570” deaths, Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said.

“We are talking about a continental emergency,” Kamba told a press briefing as the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on affected countries to step up vaccination programmes to counter a more deadly strain of mpox.

The WHO on Wednesday declared the mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency. Outbreaks have been reported in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda since July. A case of the new strain has also been detected in Sweden.

The United States has promised 50,000 vaccine doses for DRC, while Japan on Monday agreed Monday to send 3.5 million doses, “only for children,” a medical source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The source said that DRC “plans to vaccinate four million people including 3.5 million children”.

“I hope by the next week we will already be able to see the vaccines arriving,” Kamba said.

“The vaccine is a solution to our problems,” he added, urging people to get jabbed.

“Our strategic vaccination plan is ready. We are just waiting for the vaccines to arrive.”

WHO calls for vaccines 

Cases have now surfaced in all 26 provinces in the country of around 100 million people.

The WHO has declared the outbreak “a public health emergency of international concern” — its highest alert category.

On Monday it released updated guidelines on countering the surge, including by “the agile adaptation of immunization strategies and plans to concerned areas”.

It called on countries to “scale up efforts to thoroughly investigate cases and outbreaks of mpox disease” to understand its transmission and prevent the spread “to household members and communities”.

Health authorities must report new cases on a weekly basis and “identify, monitor and support the contacts of people with mpox to prevent onward transmission,” it said.

It added that countries had to be ready to provide food and other support for mpox patients “including, as warranted and possible, isolation in care centres and guidance for home-based care”.

The WHO said there has to be greater “cross-border collaboration” to monitor and handle suspected mpox cases “without resorting to general travel and trade restrictions unnecessarily impacting local, regional or national economies”.

While mpox has been known for decades, a new more deadly and more transmissible strain — clade 1b — causes death in about 3.6 per cent of cases, with children more at risk, according to the WHO.

Kamba said that mpox is reaching “more and more young people” in DRC and there are a lot of children under 15 who have been affected.

A total of 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases of mpox were reported in Africa since the beginning of the year, including 1,200 cases in one week, the African Union health agency said Saturday.

Formerly called monkeypox, the virus was discovered in 1958 in Denmark, in monkeys kept for research.

It was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what is now the DRC.

Mpox is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

The disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Islamabad, Pakistan:

A case of mpox in Pakistan announced last week was not the new strain spreading through Africa, health officials said Monday.

The mpox diagnosis in a 34-year-old man recently returned from a Gulf country was declared by health officials on Friday, while testing over the exact strain was carried out.

“The virus has been classified as Clade 2b,” the health ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“Currently, the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is primarily associated with Clade 1b. Notably, as of now, there have been no reported cases of Clade 1b in Pakistan.”

Mpox infections surged worldwide in May 2022, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men due to the Clade 2b subclade, but cases have largely subsided.

The World Health Organization declared last week the rapid spread of the new Clade 1b strain in Africa a public health emergency of international concern — the highest alarm it can sound.

Sweden’s Public Health Agency said Thursday that it had registered a case of the Clade 1b subclade, the first to be diagnosed out of Africa.

Around 16,000 cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of the epidemic which has killed 548 people in the country so far.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on August 14, 2024, declared the mpox outbreak as a “global health emergency”

The mpox or monkeypox outbreak has affected over 115 countries, and is the worst in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries.

The outbreak first started in 2022. The WHO decided to change the name of monkeypox to mpox in November of that year following racist insinuations towards some communities

According to data collected from national authorities, 99,176 cases of mpox were confirmed between January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2024, and 208 people died.

What is this virus?

The monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus, which is a genus of viruses that also includes the variola virus, which causes smallpox.

Monkeypox is a zoonosis, a disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans.

According to the WHO, cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus. Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys.

Human-to-human transmission of the virus is, however, limited. It can be through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin, the respiratory tract or through the eyes, nose or mouth or by virus-contaminated objects, such as bedding and clothing.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, the infection was first discovered in 1958. Two outbreaks of a pox-like disease were recorded in colonies of monkeys kept for research — which led to the name ‘monkeypox’.

More than four years since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic by the WHO (World Health Organization) in March 2020, fear of another mass outbreak looms large. The WHO, on August 14, declared the current upsurge of Mpox or Monkeypox in Central Africa as a global emergency requiring urgent action. The global concern for the virus grew as it spread to other African countries, and, within no time, the deadly strain of Mpox – Clade 1b – crossed the African continent to reach Sweden, Pakistan, and other countries.

The virus has killed more than 500 people so far, mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the disease has been spreading since last year. The country saw more than 96% of the world’s roughly 17,000 recorded cases of Mpox this year.

Though India has not reported any cases yet, the Central government is keeping a close eye on the situation. Our healthcare infrastructure faced severe challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in thousands of deaths. One wouldn’t wish to be caught unawares this time.

Is Mpox As Dangerous As Covid-19 Or Swine Flu?

Mpox is a zoonotic infection that causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions. Fatal in some cases, the WHO first declared it a global emergency in 2022. 

Mpox virus can be categorised into two clades: Clade 1 and Clade 2. The first, which is found mainly in Central African countries, is more severe and has a high mortality rate. Clade 2 has milder symptoms and is found in western Africa. The latter caused a public health emergency in 2022, wherein some 300 cases — though mild — were reported from Sweden. This time, it’s the newer and more serious Clade 1b, identified in September last year, that has been driving the current outbreak.

Though experts worry that Mpox may be as dangerous as Covid-19 or the swine flu, there is a difference in the nature of transmission. Both Covid-19 and swine flu were highly infectious because they were airborne. In contrast, Mpox is transmitted through close skin-to-skin contact, talking or breathing close to an infected person, or using their soiled clothes or bedsheets. “Mpox is unlikely to become a pandemic like Covid-19 primarily due to its mode of spread. It requires very close and physical contact, unlike the airborne SARS-CoV-2. Also, symptoms like blisters on the skin are more visible indicators and therefore, it’s easier to identify the disease and isolate a person to contain the spread,” says Rakesh K. Mishra, former director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.

India’s first Mpox case was recorded in Kerala in 2022, from a traveller from the UAE. Soon, the virus spread within the country, with cases emerging in Delhi even from individuals who had no recent international travel. India reported 27 confirmed cases and one death that year, according to WHO. The last case in the country was in March this year, in Kerala, and since then, no new cases have been recorded.

How To Stay Safe

In response to the WHO’s warning, both Central and state governments have sprung into action. There are monkeypox advisories in place and public health measures are being taken. Both the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) are closely monitoring the situation and reviewing international trends.

In Tamil Nadu, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH) has already issued alerts. Reports say that passengers arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African countries are being tracked by airport health officers and port health personnel. Both Hyderabad and New Delhi — cities popular among African students pursuing higher education — have also been placed on high alert.

The Need For Vaccines

The first Mpox strain was isolated by ICMR researchers in 2022. Pharmaceutical companies and drug manufacturers are being called upon to develop vaccines and testing kits for the virus. Existing vaccines for smallpox and chickenpox might also offer protection in India. 

About other prevention strategies, Mishra says, “It is important to closely monitor the spread of the disease in different countries and be ready for screening by already available methods of DNA-based diagnostics. There is an effective vaccine already available but supply of that may not be easy to ensure.”  

“Simple practices like avoiding close physical contact with suspected/potentially infected person, maintaining distance from people with symptoms, and wearing a mask, should be effective in containing the spread of the infection,” Mishra adds. 

Developed nations, mostly those in Europe, already have vaccines available for those at greater risk of monkeypox. And given the high quality of healthcare there, containing the disease will be less challenging. It’s underdeveloped African countries, which have neither vaccines nor the resources to buy them, that remain at most risk and which need the most help. 

(Bharti Mishra Nath is Contributing Editor, NDTV)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

DR Congo:

An mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 548 people since the start of the year, with all provinces affected by the virus, the health minister said on Thursday in a statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared the mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency, worried by the rise in cases in DRC and the spread to nearby countries.

“According to the latest epidemiological report, our country has recorded 15,664 potential cases and 548 deaths since the beginning of the year,” Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said in a separate video message seen by AFP on Thursday.

The DRC is made up of 26 provinces and has a population of around 100 million.

The most affected provinces are South Kivu, North Kivu, Tshopo, Equateur, North Ubangi, Tshuapa, Mongala and Sankuru, Kamba said.

The UN health agency’s decision came the day after the African Union’s health watchdog declared its own public health emergency over the growing outbreak.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:
Mpox (monkeypox) is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus. Common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions which can last 2-4 weeks accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, and low energy.

1. Mpox can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with someone who is infectious, with contaminated materials, or with infected animals, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

2. Mpox can be prevented by avoiding physical contact with someone who has mpox. Vaccination can help prevent infection for people at risk.

3. The monkeypox virus was discovered in Denmark (1958) in monkeys kept for research and the first reported human case of mpox was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, 1970).

4. Following eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the end of smallpox vaccination worldwide, mpox steadily emerged in central, east and west Africa.

5. A global outbreak occurred in 2022-2023. The natural reservoir of the virus is unknown – various small mammals such as squirrels and monkeys are susceptible.

Source: WHO

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Dr. Tresor Wakilongo, verifies the evolution of skin lesions on the ear of Innocent, suffering from mpox — an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that sparks off a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever; at the treatment centre in Munigi, following mpox cases in Nyiragongo territory near Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo July 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent.

Earlier this week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the mpox outbreaks were a public health emergency, with more than 500 deaths, and called for international help to stop the virus’ spread.

Explained | Global mpox infections: Symptoms, treatment, and status of outbreak

“This is something that should concern us all … The potential for further spread beyond Africa and beyond is very worrying,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Africa CDC previously said that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 countries this year, and that more than 96% of all cases and deaths are in Congo. Cases are up 160% and deaths are up 19% compared with the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 people have died.

“We are now in a situation where (mpox) poses a risk to many more neighbors in and around central Africa,” said Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious diseases expert who chairs the Africa CDC emergency group. He noted that the new version of mpox spreading from Congo appears to have a death rate of about 3-4%.

During the global 2022 mpox outbreak that affected more than 70 countries, fewer than 1% of people died.

Michael Marks, a professor of medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said declaring the mpox outbreaks in Africa an emergency is warranted if that might lead to more support to contain them.

“It’s a failure of the global community that things had to get this bad to release the resources needed,” he said.

Officials at the Africa CDC said nearly 70% of cases in Congo are in children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths.

Jacques Alonda, an epidemiologist working in Congo with international charities, said he and other experts were particularly worried about the spread of mpox in camps for refugees in the country’s conflict-ridden east.

“The worst case I’ve seen is that of a six-week-old baby who was just two weeks old when he contracted mpox,” Mr. Alonda said, adding the baby has been in their care for a month. “He got infected because hospital overcrowding meant he and his mother were forced to share a room with someone else who had the virus, which was undiagnosed.”

Save the Children said Congo’s health system already had been “collapsing” under the strain of malnutrition, measles and cholera.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said officials were facing several outbreaks of mpox outbreaks in various countries with “different modes of transmission and different levels of risk.”

The U.N. health agency said mpox was recently identified for the first time in four East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. All of those outbreaks are linked to the one in Congo. In the Ivory Coast and South Africa, health authorities have reported outbreaks of a different and less dangerous version of mpox that spread worldwide in 2022.

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.

Western countries mostly shut down the spread of mpox with the help of vaccines and treatments, but very few of those have been available in Africa.

Marks of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that in the absence of mpox vaccines licensed in the West, officials could consider inoculating people against smallpox, a related disease. “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.

Congolese authorities said they have asked for 4 million doses of mpox vaccine, Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee, told AP. Mr. Osako said those would mostly be used for children under 18.

“The United States and Japan are the two countries that positioned themselves to give vaccines to our country,” Mr. Osako said.

Although WHO’s emergency declaration is meant to spur donor agencies and countries into action, the global response to previous emergency designations has been mixed.

Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an infectious diseases expert at Emory University, said the last WHO emergency declaration for mpox “did very little to move the needle” on getting things like diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines to Africa.

“The world has a real opportunity here to act in a decisive manner and not repeat past mistakes, (but) that will take more than an (emergency) declaration,” Dr. Titanji said.

Geneva, Switzerland:

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighbouring countries.

Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.

Determining a disease outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern” or PHEIC – the WHO’s highest level of alert – can accelerate research, funding and international public health measures and co-operation to contain a disease.

“It’s clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Earlier this week, Africa’s top public health body declared an mpox emergency for the continent after warning that the viral infection was spreading at an alarming rate.

More than 17,000 suspected mpox cases and 517 deaths have been reported on the African continent so far this year, a 160% increase in cases compared to the same period last year, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said. A total of 13 countries have reported cases.

A different form of the mpox virus – clade IIb – spread globally in 2022, largely through sexual contact among men who have sex with men. This prompted the WHO to declare a public health emergency then, which it ended 10 months later.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

File picture of a doctor examining the ear of a patient suffering from Mpox – an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Vaccines to help curb an escalating mpox outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries may still not reach the central African country for months even as the World Health Organization considers following Africa’s top public health agency in declaring the outbreak an emergency.

On Tuesday, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared a public health emergency of continental concern for the first time ever, and on Wednesday, a WHO-led panel meets to decide if it represents a global threat.

ALSO READ: Global mpox infections: Symptoms, treatment, and status of outbreak | Explained

But while experts hoped the meetings would galvanise action worldwide, many obstacles remain, including limited vaccine supply, funding and competing disease outbreaks.

“It is important to declare an emergency because the disease is spreading,” said Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, head of Congo’s Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale (INRB). He said he hoped any declaration would help provide more funding for surveillance as well as supporting access to vaccines in Congo.

But he acknowledged the road ahead was not easy in a huge country where health facilities and humanitarian funds are already stretched by conflict and outbreaks of diseases like measles and cholera.

“If the big declarations remain just words, it won’t make any material difference,” said Emmanuel Nakoune, an mpox expert at the Institut Pasteur de Bangui in Central African Republic.

Africa CDC said last week it had been granted $10.4 million in emergency funding from the Africa Union for its mpox response, and its director general Jean Kaseya said on Tuesday there was a clear plan to secure 3 million doses of vaccine this year, without elaborating further.

However, sources involved in planning a vaccination roll-out in Congo said only 65,000 doses were likely to be available in the short-term, and campaigns were unlikely to begin before October at the earliest.

There have been more than 15,000 suspected cases of mpox in Africa this year and 461 deaths, mainly among children in Congo, according to Africa CDC. The viral infection is usually mild but can kill, and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.

A new offshoot of the virus has caused outbreaks in refugee camps in the east of Congo this year, and spread to Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya for the first time.

Ivory Coast and South Africa are also experiencing outbreaks linked to a different strain of the virus, which spread globally in 2022, largely among men who have sex with men. This outbreak prompted WHO to declare a global emergency before ending it 10 months later.

Then, two vaccines were used – Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos, and LC16, made by KM Biologics. Outside clinical trials, neither has ever been available in Congo or across Africa, where the disease has been endemic for decades. Only LC16 is approved for use in children.

Congo’s regulators approved the use of the vaccines domestically in June, but the government is yet to officially request any from either the manufacturers or governments like the United States looking to make donations through the global vaccine group, Gavi.