United States: The World Health Organization has convened an Emergency Committee meeting concerning the cross-border transmission of a fatal monkeypox variant.
Speaking on Wednesday as WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that officials are worried because the virus has “the potential for further international spread within and outside of Africa.”
The new strain of the virus was identified in April in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is much more lethal and contagious – proving fatal with up to 10 percent of its victims.
Now, it has crossed the DRC border, and the WHO has had to seek an opinion “on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.”
The DRC population density is high and very mobile, and it constantly travels and migrates across borders, thus increasing the possibility of the new mpox strain spreading beyond the country shortly.
The WHO mentioned that the virus “spread to previously unaffected provinces.”
At least 50 cases of Mpox have been confirmed in the last month in four other countries neighboring the DRC, which had never encountered the virus before. They are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
As was observed in the previous Mpox outbreak, the new strain is more affecting men who have sex with men and others with multiple sex partners.
What more has the WHO stated?
According to the director general’s statement, WHO has been working with the governments of the affected countries to “understand and address the drivers of these outbreaks.”
“Stopping transmission will require a comprehensive response, with communities at the center,” he continued.
Mpox led to an epidemic globally in the year 2022 when it reached over 100 countries, and the death toll amounted to hundreds, with the United States recording 58 deaths among the victims.
Such an outbreak was fueled by milder strains like Clade 2, which is hardly a fatal flu for most people.