World Health Organization declares ultra-deadly monkeypox strain a public health emergency of international concern

The World Health Organization today declared an ultra-deadly strain of monkeypox a global public health emergency.

Officials said an outbreak of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries posed ‘international concern’ – the WHO’s highest level of alert.

The hope is to speed up research and roll out vaccines to contain the virus, which is more infectious and several times deadlier than the one that caused the global outbreak in 2022.

No cases of the new strain have been reported in the US or the UK yet, but the American CDC is urging doctors to be extra vigilant for symptoms like skin rashes and lesions.

Experts have also warned that the disease, which spreads primarily through sex in gay and bisexual men, feels ‘very similar’ to the beginning of the AIDS crisis due to how it circulates.  

Coincidentally, the news comes the same day as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told his country to prepare for a new ‘hypothetical virus’ that could rival Covid. 

Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Wednesday: ‘It’s clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives.’

The DRC is home to a densely packed population that frequently travels and moves across borders, raising the risk the new mpox strain, which is spread through physical contact, would eventually spread beyond the country. 

More than 17,000 suspected cases of monkeypox, now called mpox, and 517 deaths have been reported on the African continent this year alone, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a 160 percent surge compared to the same period last year. 

A total of 13 countries have reported cases. And in the past month, at least 50 mpox cases have been reported in four other countries bordering the DRC – countries that have not experienced the virus before.

They include Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.  

Mpox caused an international epidemic in 2022 when it spread to more than 100 countries and killed hundreds of people – including 58 Americans. No deaths were recorded in the UK but several thousand Brits were infected.

That outbreak was caused by the more mild clade 2 strain, which is rarely fatal. 

But for more than a year, the DRC has been struggling to contain a deadlier version of the virus known as ‘clade 1a,’ which kills up to 10 percent of those infected.

The new mutated strain, dubbed ‘clad 1b,’ appears to be just as deadly.

Dr Trudie Lang, a professor of global health research at Oxford University, told The Guardian: ‘I have heard so many people refer to this being very similar to the early days of HIV.’ 

She said this was due to it spreading through sexual networks, with ‘vulnerable, young, exploited sex workers’ at high risk and facing ‘a high level of stigma.’  

CDC officials said that the latest rise in mpox cases in DRC is the ‘largest surge of mpox cases ever recorded.’ It includes 19,919 cases and 975 deaths

In a report released in May, CDC officials called this DRC’s ‘largest surge of mpox cases ever recorded.’ 

Clad 1b has been confirmed in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda and the virus detected in Burundi is still being analyzed. 

Dr Josie Golding, head of epidemics and epidemiology at infectious disease organization Wellcome in the UK, said: ‘Epidemics pose a threat to health and health equity globally. The current surge of cases in Africa demonstrates the ongoing and growing threat of mpox.’

‘We should not wait for diseases to escalate and cross borders before acting. Effective outbreak control requires sustained, coordinated efforts worldwide – from local and national governments, and public and private industry to funders, regulators and NGOs.’

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has said that the risk to the American general public ‘is very low’ and the US is ‘well prepared to rapidly detect, contain, and manage clade I cases should they be identified domestically.’  

Two vaccines have been backed by the WHO to prevent mpox infection. HHS also announced it would donate 50,000 doses of one of the vaccines, JYNNEOS, to DRC and is working with DRC’s authorities to help contain the spread. 

‘The United States will continue to work closely with African governments, Africa CDC and WHO to ensure an effective response to the current outbreak and to protect the health and lives of people of the region,’ HHS said. 

WHO recommends a vaccine within four days of contact with someone who has the virus or within up to 14 days if there are no symptoms.

Healthcare workers and men who have sex with men are advised to receive a vaccine even if they have had no mpox exposure.

Symptoms of mpox include a rash, skin lesions, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain and swollen lymph nodes.

It is spread through physical contact, such as kissing or sex, animals when cooking them, contaminated materials and pregnant women who can spread it to a fetus. 

There is no direct cure for mpox, but doctors aim to treat its symptoms, including clearing up the rash and managing pain.