In August, The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared the outbreak as a ‘public health emergency of continental security (PHECS)’, a term it redefined as a ‘significant event posing a risk to other countries’ and which requires ‘immediate continental-level action’ to help control the spread.

According to the centre since 2022, 40,874 cases and 1,512 deaths have been reported across 15 African Union (AU) member states. And in 2024, 17,541 cases and 517 deaths have been reported from 13 AU member states.

Speaking to DW News, Dr Ngashi Ngongo, chief of staff at Africa CDC, shared that Africa is unable to control the spread of mpox due to the cost of vaccines.

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the disease is endemic in parts of Central and West Africa, with two types of the virus – clade I and clade II. Clade II, which is less severe, caused the global outbreak that began in 2022.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Health Regulations Emergency Committee shared its concern about the development and rise of mpox, and the need for ‘international cooperation’ to control the spread.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the potential of further spread of the new clade of mpox within Africa and beyond is “very worrying”, adding that a coordinated international response is “essential to stop the outbreaks and in saving lives”.

The first case that was reported outside of Africa was discovered in Sweden on August 15, 2024. The latest cases were reported in Thailand, which is confirmed to be Asia’s first known case of new deadlier mpox variant, clade Ib, on August 23.

Addressing concern that the new mpox variant could result in a new pandemic, WHO Europe regional director Dr Hans Kluge told journalists in August that it was not another COVID-19 and that ‘the risk to the general population was low.’

WHO and Africa CDC aim to develop a joint task force to help address the spread.

What is mpox?

Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) is a viral illness that belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox.

It causes milder symptoms like fever, chills, body aches, rash, sore throat, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes. People with more serious cases can develop characteristic lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals. Though some cases are very severe, most people fully recover.

Africa CDC said common symptoms could last between two to four weeks and that the virus can be transmitted to humans through ‘physical contact with an infectious person, contaminated materials, or infected animals’.

In 2022–2023 a global outbreak of mpox was caused by a strain known as clade IIb.

Monkeypox was first identified by scientists in 1958 at a laboratory in Copenhagen in Denmark during outbreaks of a ‘pox-like’ disease in monkeys. The first reported human case of mpox was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.

The Independent shared how the name was changed to mpox because it is inaccurate, with scientists suggesting that the virus may have actually originated from rodents.

Expert advice on transmission control

WHO advises those infected by the virus to ‘avoid having close contact with others’ until their lesions have completely healed. It said people with mpox are considered infectious ‘at least until all their blisters have crusted over, the scabs have fallen off and a new layer of skin has formed underneath, and all lesions on the eyes and in the body have healed’.

There are vaccines recommended by WHO for use against mpox, but ‘only people who are at risk’ (such as someone who has been in close contact of someone who has mpox, or someone who belongs to a group at high risk of exposure to mpox) are recommended to be considered for vaccination.

For more information on mpox read more from WHO here.