The rapid spread of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, in African countries constitutes a global health emergency, the World Health Organization declared on Wednesday.
This is the second time in three years that the W.H.O. has designated an mpox epidemic as a global emergency.
It previously did so in July 2022.
That outbreak went on to affect nearly 100,000 people, primarily gay and bisexual men, in 116 countries, and killed about 200 people.
The threat this time is deadlier.
Since the beginning of this year, the Democratic Republic of Congo alone has reported more than 14,000 mpox cases and 524 deaths.
Those most at risk include women and children under 15.
โThe detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern D.R.C., its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,โ said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.โs director general.
The outbreak has spread through 13 countries in Africa, including a few that had never reported mpox cases before.
On Tuesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared a โpublic health emergency of continental security,โ the first time the organization has taken that step since the African Union granted it the power to do so last year.
โItโs in the interests of the countries, of the continent and of the world to get our arms around this and stop transmission as soon as we can,โ said Dr. Nicole Lurie, the Executive Director for preparedness and response at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a nonprofit that finances vaccine development.
Facing the threat of global spread, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged clinicians and the public in the United States to be alert for the virus.
The W.H.O.โs designation of a โpublic health emergency of international concernโ is intended to prompt member countries to begin preparing for the virusโs appearance and to share vaccines, treatments and other key resources with poorer nations.
โWe need concerted international action to stem this recent, novel outbreak,โ said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University who served on the W.H.O.โs mpox committee in 2022.
The outbreak that year stayed mostly within tight sexual networks, among gay and bisexual men.
A combination of behavioral changes and vaccination tamped down the spread.
In the United States, for example, the toll dropped to about 1,700 cases last year from more than 30,000 in 2022.
The version of mpox that has been circulating in Congo has always been more virulent, and currently has a death rate of about 3 per cent, compared with 0.2 per cent in the 2022 outbreak.
The infection can produce fever, respiratory symptoms, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes, as well as a rash on the hands, feet, chest, mouth or genitals.
Until recently, it spread mainly through consumption of contaminated meat or close contact with infected animals and people.
Most of the deaths have been in children, who in this region of Africa are already beset by malnutrition and infectious diseases like cholera, measles and polio.
Should the outbreak spread globally, children in developed countries are likely to be less vulnerable to severe illness, experts have said.
Last year, for the first time, scientists discovered sexual transmission of this version of mpox, with cases split about equally among young men and women.
According to genetic analyses, sometime around September, the virus gained mutations that enabled it to spread more readily among people. It has done so partly through heterosexual prostitution.
This viral type has not surfaced outside Africa. Over all, there have been more than 17,500 presumed and confirmed mpox cases in 13 countries, according to Africa C.D.C. Most of the cases and deaths have occurred in Congo.
Given the rapid spread, the declaration of a global health emergency was justified, said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who served on the 2022 mpox panel.
โI think we learned a great deal about the speed with which this virus can spread,โ she said.
Amid rising numbers, Congo has approved two mpox vaccines, a Japanese product called LC16 and Jynneos, the vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic that was used in 2022 in the United States and Europe. But Congo has yet to institute an immunization plan.
On Aug. 9, the W.H.O. invited vaccine manufacturers to apply for an emergency use listing, a prerequisite for international groups such as Gavi, a global vaccine alliance, to purchase and distribute the shots in low-income nations.
Bavarian Nordic has donated 15,000 doses of Jynneos to be distributed in African countries.
But that is a tiny fraction of the 10 million doses needed to control the outbreak, according to Africa C.D.C.
โThe challenge is that these vaccines are not sufficient,โ even if countries try to protect only the people at highest risk, said Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a Nigerian scientist and chair of the W.H.O.โs mpox emergency committee.
LC16 was used in Japanese children in the 1970s. Clinical trials funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations are now evaluating whether Jynneos can protect children and people who have already been exposed to the virus, Dr. Lurie said.
The organization is also supporting the development of a new mRNA vaccine made by BioNTech that would protect against mpox and related viruses, such as smallpox.
โThis outbreak has been smoldering for quite a long time, and we continually have missed opportunities to shut it down,โ Dr. Lurie said.
โIโm really glad that everybody is now paying attention and focusing their efforts on this.โ
Apoorva Mandavilli is a reporter focused on science and global health. She was a part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the pandemic.
(The New York Times)
