The virus has been detected for the first time in several countries in Africa and is disproportionately affecting children.
In its latest report, Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the infectious disease has killed at least 517 people and more than 17,000 suspected cases have been reported across Africa so far this year.
“The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo], its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing Wednesday evening.
He said cases have surged since 2022, when the WHO last declared mpox as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
According to the director general, more recently, an alarming new variant that first appeared in 2023 has spread within the DRC and to neighboring regions, now recorded in at least five countries.
Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) is an infectious disease that can cause a rash and skin lesions, among other symptoms including fever, headache and swollen lymph nodes.
It’s transmitted via contact with lesions of an infected person, animal or contaminated material.
MG/abj/APA