Mpox: Alarm to WHO for the blessing of monkeys – Increase cases

Meeting on the mpox virus ( ) convened to examine whether or not the highest level of alert should be declared as the disease continues to spread to African countries. The WHO meeting on the mpox virus, formerly known as the apes’ blessing, will take place on Wednesday (14.8.2024). ‘The first meeting was convened in 2024 of the Emergency Response Committee by the Director-General of the WHO (…) as regards the resurgence of the mpox’, and it was set to be held ‘on 14 August (…) from 12:00’ (p. Geneva time; 13:00 Greek time), the organization said in an information note distributed to journalists. Meetings of this committee shall generally take place in closed session. “The committee will give me its views on whether the epidemic is a state of international health emergency and, if so, will advise me on the interim recommendations to be made,” the head of WHO, Tedros Andanom Gebregosus, via X. He had announced on Wednesday 7 August that he would convene the committee “as soon as possible”. The state of international emergency is the highest level of alert the WHO can declare. The Director-General shall do so on the recommendation of the committee responsible. What mpox is The disease, formerly known as monkey smallpox, is viral, transmitted from animals to humans and can also be transmitted from man to man in case of close physical contact with a carrier. A new strain of the virus that causes the mpox, baptized “clade 1b” (“variant 1b”) was detected in September 2023 in the DRC Congo, then in neighbouring countries, raising concern for its spread. According to the WHO chief, variant 1b “causes more serious illness than variant 2”. The GDR is the most affected country: by August 3rd, 14,479 confirmed or suspected cases and 455 deaths were recorded – based on these figures, the disease has mortality of around 3% – according to the African Union public health agency. The mpox – first detected in humans in 1970 in then Zaire, the present GDR Congo – has a key symptom of developing rashes in the genitals or mouth, and may also be accompanied by high fever, headache, myalgia, lymphadenopathy, etc. The virus variant that causes the disease in the current period is a mutation. To date, its spread is limited to countries in western and central Africa, with patients generally infected with virus vector animals. The 2022 global epidemic of variant 2 spread to about a hundred countries where the disease is not endemic, mostly to gay and bisexual men. WHO had declared the maximum level of alarm in July 2022, due to the outbreak of cases at international level; went on to lift it a year later, in May 2023. The epidemic accounted for about 140 deaths over a total of 90,000 cases.