In an update, WHO An outbreak of mpox was declared in Burundi on July 25, around the same time Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda also confirmed their own cases.
The UN health agency noted that all of these infections — in which patients’ symptoms include fever, joint pain and a widespread rash — are linked to “widespread outbreaks” in East and Central Africa.
Later in the day, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) officially declared the situation a public health emergency, expressing concern about the speed at which it was spreading. in the past few weeks.
The WHO explained that after genetic sequencing, all infections were identified as group Ib — one of three recognized variants of the virus. The WHO also added that the UN health agency reported 934 new laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox and four deaths across 26 countries in June.
The report notes that this suggests “mpox continues to spread worldwide.”
Endemic problem
Mpox has been circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for years, according to the UN health agency, which said there had been an “unprecedented increase” in the number of countries in Africa reporting mpox, which is mainly spread through sexual contact.
In the African Region, WHO says DRC reported 96 percent of confirmed mpox cases in June. But with limited access to testing in rural areas, less than a quarter of suspected cases there were tested, so it is likely that the disease burden is higher than initially estimated.
Data shows the DRC has experienced a “severe outbreak” of mpox since the start of the year, with more than 14,000 cases and 511 deaths reported, the UN health agency said.
Focus on transmission
In a related development, WHO said Ivory Coast is also experiencing an outbreak of mpox, group II; this is the variant that caused the global mpox outbreak in 2022, the UN health agency said, adding that South Africa reported two more confirmed cases.
Mpox – formerly known as monkeypox – is endemic to Central and West Africa. It can be transmitted through physical contact with infected people, animals or contaminated materials. Symptoms include a rash or skin lesions, accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.
World trends
Globally, the most affected region in June was Africa with 567 infections, followed by the Americas (175 cases), Europe – excluding the Eastern Mediterranean region – (100 cases), the Western Pacific (81 cases) and Southeast Asia (11 cases).
From January 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024, a total of 99,176 laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox disease – including 208 deaths – were reported to the UN health agency from 116 countries in all WHO regions. Outside Africa, “the outbreak continues at low levels of transmission” globally, the WHO said..
June data shows that 16 of the 26 countries reported an increase in cases compared to May. The Democratic Republic of Congo reported the highest increase in Africa – with 543 cases in June compared to 459 the previous month (a 62 percent increase) while Spain saw the highest increase in Europe (54 cases, up from 38 in May), Colombia reported the highest increase in the Americas with 11 cases in June and none in May, Australia had the highest increase in the Western Pacific (from 33 cases in May to 64 cases in June). No country reported an increase in Southeast Asia.
