Congo has recorded over 1,000 new instances of Mpox in the past week, and African health authorities have requested much-needed immunizations to combat the disease’s growing threat throughout the continent.
The epidemics in Africa have been deemed a worldwide emergency by the World Health Organization.
Though it causes less severe symptoms including fever, chills, and body pains, Mpox is related to smallpox and is primarily transmitted by close skin-to-skin contact, including sexual activity.
People with more serious cases can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.
During recent outbreaks, Mpox cases have been documented in 12 of Africa’s 54 countries.
But Congo has recorded by far the highest number of cases.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that of the 18,910 cases documented in 2024, 94%, were in the Congo, accounting for 535 of the 541 recorded deaths.
Since only around one in five probable cases in the Congo are being tested for Mpox, the numbers are probably underestimated.
Africa CDC director-general Dr Jean Kaseya said many affected African countries had limited testing and surveillance capabilities.
Over the last seven days, Congo recorded 1,030 of the 1,405 new cases in Africa according to statistics provided late Tuesday by the Africa CDC.
Only 16% of the cases have been confirmed by virus tests, but the infections meet the agency’s definition of the disease.
The rising mpox case count in Africa and a new form of the virus identified in Congo that might be more easily transmitted led the WHO to declare it a global health emergency last week.
The WHO has previously said its past efforts to raise donations for mpox failed to elicit even a single donor dollar.
Congo’s health minister said his country alone needed 3 million vaccine doses to end the outbreaks there, which have spilled into at least four nearby African countries.
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