While the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern on Wednesday regarding the spread of the mpox virus, 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases have been recorded since the beginning of the year in Africa. The Africa CDC, which is behind this count, specifies that several variants of the virus have been recorded, adding that there are 3,101 confirmed cases, 15,636 suspected cases and 541 deaths reported in twelve countries on the continent.
At the epicenter of the epidemic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The country accounts for almost all of the cases recorded with 16,800 suspected or confirmed, according to the same source. More than 500 deaths have been recorded since the beginning of 2024. The 26 provinces of the country of around 100 million inhabitants have recorded cases.
Africa is facing the spread of a new strain of the virus, detected in the DRC in September 2023 and called “clade 1b”, more deadly and more transmissible than the previous ones.
The first cases of MPOX were also reported outside Africa this week, in Sweden and Pakistan.
MPOX, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted through close physical contact with a person infected with the virus. “Clade 1b” causes rashes all over the body, while previous strains were characterized by localized rashes and lesions on the mouth, face or genitals.