- WHO declares worldwide emergency over Mpox
The World Health Organization (WHO) has activated its highest level of alert due to a new variant of the Mpox virus in Africa, declaring a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern" (PHEIC).
The WHO sees the risk that the Mpox could spread internationally again after 2022 and become a health risk to several countries. The WHO followed the recommendation of independent Mpox experts who had met in the so-called emergency committee at the invitation of the WHO, as WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva. The declaration of the emergency does not have concrete consequences. Instead, it is intended to alert authorities worldwide to prepare for possible outbreaks.
New Mpox variant discovered
The WHO's concern also relates to a new virus variant that was discovered in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the end of 2023. It is a sublineage of the Mpox clade I (roman one), named Ib. It could be more infectious than previous variants and cause more severe disease courses. Detailed studies on this are still pending. Mpox of clade I have been discovered in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya for the first time in recent weeks.
The European health authority ECDC has assessed the risk of the new variant spreading in Europe at the end of July as "very low". According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), there are no known cases of clade I in Germany so far.
Mpox was previously known as monkeypox because it was first detected in monkeys. The WHO has set the new name to avoid discriminations by not naming diseases after animals or countries where they are discovered.
Vaccine against classic smallpox protects
The virus is related to the classic smallpox virus (Variola virus). It causes skin rash and fever, and can be fatal, especially for children. The vaccine against the smallpox virus also protects against infection with the Mpox virus.
The African health authority CDC has already reported more than 14,000 suspected cases and more than 500 deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries this year. Only a small part of these has been confirmed in the laboratory. However, it has already declared an emergency for Africa to mobilize more resources to help countries contain the outbreak. The WHO receives less than 1,000 laboratory-confirmed cases from around the world each month. It assumes that not all cases are discovered due to a lack of testing capacity.
The WHO declared an emergency in July 2022 due to Mpox. At that time, there were cases in more than 60 countries, including Germany. The infections were due to clade II, which causes less severe disease courses. The emergency was lifted in May 2023 because the outbreaks were brought under control in most countries, also with vaccines. However, there are still issues with the supply of vaccines in Africa and other countries in the global south.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging international authorities to prepare for potential outbreaks of the new Mpox virus variant, given its potential for global spread and higher infectiousness than previous variants. After the discovery of the new virus variant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the African health authority CDC has declared an emergency to mobilize resources for containing the outbreak in the region.
