Mpox no longer a global public health emergency: World Health Organization

Mpox no longer represents a global public health emergency the WHO said Friday following a steady decline in cases and deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other affected countriesThe World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern PHEIC in August 2024 after a twopronged mpox epidemic broke out primarily in the DRCWHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lifted the status following Thursdays quarterly meeting of the UN health agencys emergency committee on the mpox outbreakThis decision is based on sustained declines in cases and deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in other affected countries including Burundi Sierra Leone and Uganda he told a press conferenceTedros said there was now a better understanding of what was driving transmission while the most affected countries had enhanced their capacity to respondLifting the emergency declaration does not mean the threat is over nor that our response will stop said Tedros noting that the situation remained a continental emergency in AfricaThe possibility of continued flareups and new outbreaks remains he saidThe African Unions public health watchdog said Thursday that the current downward trends are notyet stable enough to justify lifting the emergency at the continental levelThis year until the end of July more than 34000 confirmed cases worldwide have been reported to the WHO including 138 deaths from 84 countries More than 15000 of the cases were in the DRC Call for vigilance Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox It can be transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed between people through close physical contactThe disease which was first detected in humans in 1970 in the DRC then known as Zaire causes fever muscular aches and large boillike skin lesions and can be deadlyDimie Ogoina who chaired the WHOs mpox emergency committee said the case fatality rate had dropped in endemic regions from 36 percent to around one percentBut he urged countries not to grow complacent about mpox and throw away what we have gained during the emergencyFailure to invest in combatting mpox will put the world as the risk of a resurgence he said calling for sustained vigilanceThe WHO said more than three million vaccine doses had been delivered to 12 countries with just under one million doses administeredMpox has two subtypes the more severe clade 1 and clade 2The virus long endemic in central Africa gained international prominence in May 2022 when clade 2 spread around the world mostly but not only affecting gay and bisexual menThe WHO declared a global health emergency in July 2022 but thanks to vaccination and awareness drives that helped stem the spread that declaration was lifted in May 2023A year later however a new epidemic broke out with both the original clade 1a strain and a new strain clade 1b causing the WHO to declare a new PHEICA PHEIC has only been declared eight times since 2009 over H1N1 swine flu poliovirus Zika virus Covid19 and twice over both Ebola and mpoxThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever