By Michael Gwarisa
WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned of a more deadly and highly infectious Mpox strain spreading across Africa and other parts of the world.
This follows revelations that the mpox outbreak that has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the past several months might have spilled beyond the DRC borders.
A report by science publication www.science.org shows that sequencing of the mpox viruses in three cases reported earlier this week in Uganda and Kenya has now confirmed all belong to a deadlier variant previously seen only in DRC.
Speaking trough his micro-bloging account, Dr Tedros said he would convene an emergency meeting to determine the fate of the diseases and there is a possibility he might declare the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)
As a deadlier strain of Mpox spreads to multiple African countries, WHO, Africa CDC, local governments and partners are further scaling up the response to interrupt disease transmission. But more funding and support for a comprehensive response are needed. I am considering convening an International Health Regulations Emergency Committee to advise me on whether the outbreak of mpox should be declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC),”said Dr Tedros.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is appealing for more help after the troubling development, which it fears could be a precursor to a new mpox epidemic, just two years after a milder strain spread worldwide. Africa CDC has since announced that it had made an emergency approval of $10.4 million to help affected countries on the continent strengthen their mpox surveillance and improve access to vaccines. It says there have been 37,583 cases of mpox and 1451 deaths in 15 African countries between January 2022 and the end of last month.
Mpox cases have also recently been reported in two other countries bordering South Kivu, Rwanda and Burundi. Neither had ever reported a case of mpox, whether clade I or II. The two cases in Rwanda both had recently traveled to DRC. Burundi has reported eight confirmed cases, but no information about links to DRC was available as of today.
