In Africa is on mpox alert, the spread of the so-called ‘monkeypox’ is galloping with 1,200 cases recorded in a weekbringing the total number of confirmed or suspected infections since the beginning of the year to 18,737. This was announced by the African Union health agency (Africa CDC). In its count, Africa CDC reports 3,101 confirmed cases, 15,636 suspected cases and 541 deaths in 12 countries on the continent, specifying that several variants of the virus have been identified. Since the beginning of 2024 – Africa CDC reports – more cases have been reported than in the whole of 2023 (14,838).
Among the countries most affected is the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of the epidemicwith 16,800 suspected or confirmed cases. Since the beginning of 2024, more than 500 deaths have been reported. Cases have been reported in all 26 provinces of the country, which has a population of about 100 million. Burundi, which borders the DRC, has instead reported 173 cases (39 confirmed, 134 suspected), with an increase of 75% in a week. Africa is dealing with the spread of a new strain of the virus, identified in Congo in September 2023, namely “Clade Ib”, more virulent or lethal than the strains already known.
This week the first cases of mpox were reported outside the African continent, in Sweden and Pakistan. The resurgence of the Mpox virus has prompted the WHO to declare a health emergency of international concern, the highest alert level. Two days earlier, the African Union had also declared monkeypox a “continental health emergency.”
#Mpox #Alert #Africa #Cases #Monkeypox #Days
