Epidemics 1100 deaths from Mpox virus in Africa since the beginning of the year

According to the health authority of the African Union (CDC), 1100 people have died from an Mpox infection on the continent since the beginning of the year. Without rapid "concrete measures", the epidemic will get "out of control", warned CDC chief Jean Kaseya.

A total of 42,000 cases have been registered in Africa since January, including for the first time in Zambia and Zimbabwe, Kaseya told journalists on Thursday. This brings the number of countries in which the virus has been detected to 18. 16 countries have been confirmed to have been affected by the virus, including Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Uganda. The WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern in mid-August.

According to Kaseya, most of the deaths were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak, where vaccination began at the beginning of the month. However, there are new cases across the continent "week after week".

18 countries are "too many", warned Kaseya. "We cannot go on like this," he emphasized and once again appealed to the international community to do more in the fight against Mpox and to release the funds pledged for this without delay.

The Mpox virus was first detected in laboratory monkeys in Denmark in 1958. The disease, which causes fever, muscle pain and smallpox-like pustules on the skin, was known for decades as monkeypox.

SDA