The World Health Organization (WHO) on Aug. 14 declared a global emergency in response to an outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and several other African countries, while the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), an agency of the African Union, declared a similar Public Health Emergency on Aug. 13.
“The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighboring countries are very worrying,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a written statement. “On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.”
The declaration comes two years after WHO declared the same emergency in the midst of a 2022 outbreak of mpox in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world. The emergency period during the 2022 outbreak stretched from July of that year until May of the following year. While mpox has been circulating in the DRC for over a decade, officials have seen a gradual increase in cases over that timeframe. This year alone, the country has seen 15,600 cases and 537 deaths.
A committee of independent experts reviewed statistics on the current state of mpox and suggested to Ghebreyesus that the increase in mpox cases should be deemed a public health emergency of international concern. Ghebreyesus plans to outline temporary recommendations in the areas where mpox has been prevalent.
While mpox has been known to spread via sexual contact in the United States, that has not been the case in African countries. However, a more aggressive strain that emerged last year has been spreading through sex, according to WHO.
Some key issues during this outbreak include a major shortage of vaccine doses — mpox vaccine doses are generally not yet available in the DRC — as well as worse outcomes, as evidenced by the hundreds of deaths so far this year. Africa CDC is calling on the international community to help bring two million doses to the affected populations — and the agency reported on Aug. 14 that the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority will donate 175,420 doses of the mpox vaccine.
Dimie Ogoina, who chairs WHO’s emergency committee, said the “new sexually transmissible strain” of the virus “is an emergency not only for Africa, but for the entire globe,” pointing to the way in which the mpox outbreak of 2022 spread to many countries. Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa, said health officials are working with communities and governments to reduce the spread of mpox.
Officials are focusing primarily on the DRC, but cases of Clade 1b — one of the more dangerous strains — have been detected in the last month in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, all of which had never reported mpox cases before.
The WHO said $15 million in funding will be necessary to cover surveillance, preparedness, and response. Tedros said he activated the “Emergency Use Listing” process in an effort to fast-track additional vaccines in lower-income countries.
No cases of the new strain have been detected in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sweden’s public health agency on Aug. 15 reported the first case of the dangerous strain outside of Africa.
Overall, cases of mpox have been decreasing in New York City following a brief uptick in the spring. The city saw 53 cases in April, 43 in May, 36 in June, and 33 in July. From July 7 to Aug. 3, there were just 26 cases of mpox.
“This action was necessary, and as the Health Commissioner of New York City — which was the epicenter of the mpox outbreak in the United States — we have learned many lessons from the 2022 outbreak, and we are prepared,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said in a written statement. “While the current risk to New Yorkers and Americans is low, we must not only plan ahead but act now.”
Vasan further called on community members who only received one dose to return for their second dose of the two-dose vaccine regimen.
Bronx Congressmember Ritchie Torres, New York’s lone out LGBTQ member of the House of Representatives, called for a swift response to prevent the DRC-based outbreak from reaching the United States. In June, Torres and his out colleague, Representative Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, wrote a letter to the Biden administration asking what the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was doing to prevent a resurgence of mpox in the United States, increase vaccination rates among at-risk populations, and more — especially in light of a United States Government Accountability Office report from April that found HHS lacked an appropriate strategy to improve responses to such health emergencies in the future.
“Unfortunately, I never received a response from the administration to my concerns in June,” Torres said in a written statement on Aug. 15. “Yesterday’s news from the WHO should set off alarm bells in the federal government and spur immediate action. There is an urgent need for the HHS to develop a unified and coordinated strategy for rapid response — before we have another mpox outbreak on American soil. Vulnerable groups like the LGBTQ+ community cannot handle another botched response.”
