WHO Report - 934 cases of mumps worldwide in June - Emergency Committee meets
Monkeypox (formerly known as Affenpocken) continues to spread across the globe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of laboratory-confirmed cases reported in June has slightly decreased from 963 to 934 compared to the previous month. However, due to under-testing and under-reporting, the WHO believes the actual number is likely higher.
The WHO is concerned about a new subvariant in Africa and has convened an emergency committee. The independent experts will meet on Wednesday to discuss whether the current situation constitutes a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern" (PHEIC).
Such a declaration was made in 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic and again in 2022 for the previous monkeypox outbreak. The purpose is not to trigger immediate consequences but to alert governments and authorities worldwide to prepare for a potential surge in cases.
Monkeypox can cause symptoms such as skin rash and fever, and it can be deadly, especially for children. In June, 100 cases were reported from the WHO European region, 175 from North, Central, and South America, and 567 from the African region. Ninety-six percent of these cases were reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Due to limited testing capabilities, only a quarter of suspected cases in DRC were tested, and two-thirds of those tested were positive. Therefore, the number of confirmed cases is an underestimation of the actual burden, according to the WHO.
The WHO has complete data up to the end of June. Since then, four more African countries have reported monkeypox cases for the first time, which are not yet included in these statistics: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Most of the affected individuals were in the eastern part of the DRC.
In total, the WHO has reported 99,176 laboratory-confirmed cases from 116 countries since 1 January 2022 to the end of June 2024. There have been 208 deaths.
The WHO assesses the risk of infection with monkeypox viruses of clades I and II in certain parts of the DRC as high. Last year, a new sublineage of monkeypox clade I was discovered there, which may be more transmissible than other lineages.
The World Health Organisation is closely monitoring the new sublineage of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as it may be more transmissible than other lineages. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is collaborating with affected countries in Africa, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, to enhance their surveillance and response capacities.
