Effective disease surveillance, contact tracing, risk communication, community engagement and vaccine rollout are a top priority to control the spread of mpox, according to an expert with the World Health Organization (WHO).
Last week, the WHO declared monkeypox, also known as mpox, a public health emergency of international concern, underscoring the potential for further global transmission.
So far this year, there have been more than 18,700 suspected or confirmed mpox cases reported in at least 12 African countries, with the Democratic Republic of Congo being the hardest hit, recording cases in all its 26 provinces.
Samuel Boland, Mpox Incident Manager with the WHO in Africa, said that the organization is closely monitoring the mpox epidemic in the affected countries.
“I think [it’s] first important to note that for most people in most parts of the world, we’re not really thinking of grappling with another major pandemic like COVID was. But indeed, this past week the director general of the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern, which definitely does mean that mpox is a concern of ours that we have been and will continue to monitor and track really closely,” he said.
Boland noted that the overall case numbers are rising, particularly due to a new, more easily transmissible strain clade Ib spreading in eastern Africa.
According to Boland, the WHO does not recommend travel-related health measures like screening, testing or vaccination requirements, as the virus primarily spreads through close contact within households or through sexual contact transmission.
“Effective surveillance, effective contact tracing, alongside robust risk communication and community engagement, those are the best ways to control the spread of mpox, both within countries but also across borders,” he said.
The WHO has activated an emergency use listing to help overcome regulatory hurdles and enable vaccination rollout in African countries, which will be a priority with partners like the vaccine alliance Gavi, and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Boland added.
Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that is spread through close contact, with symptoms including fever, swelling of the lymph nodes, sore throat, muscle aches, skin rash, and back pain.
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