The World Health Organization has called a meeting of its Emergency Committee to address the international spread of a deadly strain of monkeypox.
Director-General of the WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that public health officials are concerned the virus has ‘the potential for further international spread within and outside of Africa.’
The new strain of the virus was detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo in April that has evolved to become even more infectious and deadly – killing up to one in 10 people who catch it.
Now, it has spread outside the DRC, prompting the WHO to call on public health experts to advise ‘on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.’
The DRC is home to a densely packed population that frequently travels and moves across borders, raising the risk the new mpox strain would eventually spread beyond the country.
The WHO said the virus has now ‘spread to previously unaffected provinces.’
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.
Like in the previous Mpox outbreak, the new strain is predominantly affecting men who have sex with men, and those with multiple sex partners like sex workers.
The director general added the WHO is working with governments of the affected countries, as well as Africa’s CDC and non-governmental agencies to ‘understand and address the drivers of these outbreaks.’
He continued: ‘Stopping transmission will require a comprehensive response, with communities at the center.’
As part of WHO’s regional response, Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it does not recommend travel restrictions on affected countries and it is requesting $15million from the United States to support surveillance, preparedness and response actions.
Mpox caused an international epidemic in 2022 when it spread to more than 100 countries and killed hundreds of people – including 58 Americans.
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.
Clad 1b has been confirmed in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda and the virus detected in Burundi is still being analyzed.
Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference the DRC has been ‘experiencing a severe outbreak of Mpox,’ since early this year and has recorded more than 14,000 cases of the virus.
There have been at least 511 deaths.
