The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern on Friday, December 15, about the risks of an international spread of the monkeypox epidemic, also known as Mpox. which extends into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and their sexual transmission is accelerating.
“We are concerned that there will be international transmission.” from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the DD Rosamund Lewis, MPOX specialist at WHO, during a press conference in Geneva. “The epidemic is spreading rapidly in the country” who reported this year “More than 13,000 suspected cases”either “More than twice as many cases as reported in previous years”and among them “More than 600 dead”she announced.
The WHO had already sounded the alarm at the end of November about this epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is transmitted by variant 1 of the virus, and announced the dispatch of an evaluation mission. “The demographic picture in the newly infected areas is therefore worrying because it is the first time that we see the MPOX virus affecting more women than men.”reported the DD Lewis.
As of May 2022, outbreaks of MPOX variant 2b were observed in Europe and the United States, outside of the ten countries in Central and West Africa where the disease has long been endemic, prompting the WHO to raise the highest alert level on July 23 to proclaim, 2022.
On May 11, the WHO lifted the warning but urged people to be vigilant. The epidemic spread primarily through sexual relationships between men. According to the WHO, more than 92,000 cases have been reported in 117 countries since May 2022.
Sexual transmission
Recently, the number of cases reported to WHO has increased again, from about a hundred per month from June to August “More than 1,000 per month” Today the D. showed offD Lewis reports on outbreaks in Asia, including Japan, Vietnam, China and Indonesia. Cambodia reported its first case this week. The DD Lewis revealed that the organization had been notified of a suspected outbreak on a cruise ship sailing in Southeast Asia, but there was a lack of information.
The current epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo worries the WHO because it is spreading to areas previously thought to be spared from MPox, including Kinshasa, Lualaba and South Kivu. And because this is the first time that sexual transmission has been observed in patients with variant 1, the D recalledD Lewis. The WHO is also concerned about the degree of danger of the variant (also called). “clade” the WHO) that are circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“What concerns us in the case of clade 1 is that it has a higher severity and a higher mortality rate.”said Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of pandemic preparedness at WHO, during another press conference at the organization’s headquarters.
