A health worker cares for a girl suffering from ampox at a treatment center in Munigi, eastern Congo, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. | Photo credit: AP
Total 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases Cases of Mpox Were Reports in Africa The African Union’s health agency said on Saturday that a total of 1,200 cases had been reported since the beginning of the year, including 1,200 in one week alone.
The figure shows three variants of the virus, one of which is a new, more deadly and more contagious clade 1b, which caused the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare an international health emergency on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) – the agency’s highest alert.
Also read: Ampox virus: Tamil Nadu airport and port officials on alert
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement that to date, there have been 3,101 confirmed and 15,636 suspected cases across 12 African Union member countries, resulting in 541 deaths – a case fatality rate of 2.89 per cent.
The worst-affected country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the new clade 1b strain was first detected in September 2023, has reported 1,005 cases (222 confirmed, 783 suspected) and 24 deaths in a week.
Also read:WHO declares ampox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency
Cases have been reported in all 26 provinces of the DRC, which has a population of around 100 million.
Neighbouring Burundi reported 173 cases – 39 confirmed and 134 suspected – representing a 75% increase in a week.
According to the Africa CDC, more cases have been reported since the beginning of the year than in all of 2023, with a total of 14,383 cases.
The first cases of ampox outside Africa were reported this week in Sweden and Pakistan.
The World Health Organisation will soon publish the first recommendations of its emergency committee and, together with NGOs, has also called for accelerating vaccine production.
Ampox is a viral disease that can spread from animals to humans, but can also spread from person to person through sex or close physical contact. Symptoms include fever, muscle pains and large blister-like lesions on the skin
Clade 1b causes skin rashes over the entire body, while the previous type caused localized lesions around the mouth, face, or genitals.
The disease, formerly known as monkeypox, was first detected in humans in the DRC in 1970. The more deadly clade 1 has been endemic in the Congo Basin of central Africa for decades.