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A wave of infections with the Mpox virus in Africa worries the World Health Organization (WHO). Thus, a public health emergency of international concern and the highest alert level has been declared. On Thursday, Sweden became the first European country to report a case of infection with the virus variant 1b, which is rampant in Africa. An overview of the most important questions.
What is Mpox?
For decades, the disease was known as monkeypox. It was only renamed two years ago to prevent the risk of racial discrimination. Mpox viruses were originally mainly found in rodents in West and Central Africa. They first appeared in humans in the 1970s in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Until a few years ago, infections were mostly limited to cases where people had eaten the meat of infected animals.
Symptoms include fever, aching limbs, and smallpox-like pustules on the skin. The mortality rate is estimated at one to ten percent of cases. It depends on the state of the healthcare system in the affected country and the strain of the virus in question.
There are two large “families” of the Mpox virus, known as clades. The more dangerous virus group 1 is currently spread mainly in Central Africa in the Congo Basin. Virus group 2 circulates mainly in West Africa.
Mpox epidemic of 2022
Two years ago, Mpox made headlines for the first time with an international wave of infections. Back then, the WHO also declared a global health emergency, in this case due to virus subgroup 2b. Almost 100,000 cases were registered in 116 countries, and around 200 people died. During this wave, the disease was mainly transmitted during sex and primarily affected men who had sex with men.
Mpox epidemic from 2024
The current wave of infection originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The virus group 1 and the even more dangerous subgroup 1b are spreading. The mortality rate for 1b is estimated at 3.6 percent of cases. The subgroup was first diagnosed in September 2023 in prostitutes in the Congolese province of South Kivu.
This time, the virus spreads not only during sex but also through non-sexual close contact between people via direct mucous membranes and skin contact with open wounds. Children are, therefore, also at risk. The course of the disease is more severe with 1b than with virus group 2.
Countries particularly affected
So far, the virus is particularly rampant in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 548 deaths and more than 15,600 suspected cases of infection have already been recorded since the beginning of the year. Cases of Mpox have also been recorded in Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda for the first time in recent weeks.
Risk in Europe
On Friday, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, head of the EU health authority ECDC, said the risk for the European population is currently “very low to low.” However, in Africa, the situation is currently “anything but under control,” and Europe and the USA are called upon to help.
Vaccinations
Effective vaccines against Mpox exist. While they were widely used in Western countries to fight the 2022 wave of infection, they are still hardly available in Africa.
On Tuesday, the African Union’s health authority (Africa CDC) announced the distribution of 200,000 vaccine doses on the continent. However, this is hardly enough, as two vaccinations are required for immunity. According to Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, a larger vaccination program, including ten million doses, is being prepared.
- science.ORF.at/Agencies/picture: pixabay.com
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