This year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported over 14,000 cases of mpox. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on Wednesday. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed the decision during a media briefing, stating that the Emergency Committee advised that the situation warrants such a declaration.
In the United States, there have been 1,634 reported cases of mpox so far this year, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This figure has more than doubled compared to last year but remains significantly lower than the numbers recorded during a larger outbreak in 2022. PHEICs have previously been declared for events like the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s mpox outbreak.
While mpox has historically been endemic to certain regions in Central and Western Africa, cases have surged notably in the DRC, with 14,000 cases and 524 deaths reported this year. Mpox exists in two types: clade I and clade II. Clade I has been linked to small, localized outbreaks in the DRC over the years, but a variant called clade Ib, which primarily spreads through sexual contact, is currently driving the increase in cases.
Dr. Tedros noted that the emergence of clade Ib in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox cases, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, prompted the convening of the emergency committee. He expressed concern about the rapid spread of this new clade in eastern DRC and its potential to extend within Africa and beyond.
Furthermore, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) proclaimed mpox a public health emergency of continental security (PHECS) on the same day, marking its first such declaration since its establishment in 2017. In a report released the same day, the WHO indicated that June saw 934 new laboratory-confirmed mpox cases and four deaths across 26 countries.
Currently, there have been no reported cases of clade I mpox outside Central and Eastern Africa, including in the U.S., which the CDC says poses a low risk to the American public. The JYNNEOS vaccine, a two-dose vaccine approved to prevent smallpox and mpox, is being utilized in the U.S. Data indicates that two doses of JYNNEOS are at least 85% effective in preventing mpox infections.