W.H.O. Declares Mpox Outbreak in African Countries a Global Emergency

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W.H.O. Declares Mpox Outbreak in ******** Countries a Global Emergency

The rapid spread of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, in ******** countries constitutes a global health emergency, the World Health Organization declared on Wednesday.

This is the second time in three years that the W.H.O. has designated an mpox epidemic as a global emergency. It previously did so in July 2022. That outbreak went on to affect

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, primarily gay and ********* men, in 116 countries, and ******* about 200 people.

The threat this time is deadlier. Since the beginning of this year, the Democratic Republic of Congo alone has reported 15,600 mpox cases and 537 deaths. Those most at risk include women and children under 15.

“The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern D.R.C., its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within ******* and beyond is very worrying,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.’s director general.

The outbreak has spread through 13 countries in *******, including a few that had never reported mpox cases before. On Tuesday, the ******* Centers for ******** Control and Prevention declared a “public health emergency of continental security,” the first time the organization has taken that step since the ******** Union granted it the power to do so last year.

“It’s in the interests of the countries, of the continent and of the world to get our arms around this and stop transmission as soon as we can,” said Dr. Nicole Lurie, the executive director for preparedness and response at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a nonprofit that finances vaccine development.

Facing the threat of global spread, the Centers for ******** Control and Prevention has

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and the public in the ******* States to be alert for the virus.

The W.H.O.’s designation of a “public health emergency of international concern” is intended to prompt member countries to begin preparing for the virus’s appearance and to share vaccines, treatments and other key resources with poorer nations.

“We need concerted international action to stem this recent, novel outbreak,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University who served on the W.H.O.’s mpox committee in 2022.

The outbreak that year stayed mostly within tight ******* networks, among gay and ********* men. A combination of behavioral changes and vaccination tamped down the spread.

In the ******* States, for example, the toll dropped to about 1,700 cases last year from more than 30,000 in 2022.

The version of mpox that has been circulating in Congo has always been more virulent, and currently has a ****** rate of about 3 percent, compared with 0.2 percent in the 2022 outbreak. The infection can produce fever, respiratory symptoms, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes, as well as a rash on the hands, feet, chest, mouth or genitals.

Until recently, it spread mainly through consumption of contaminated meat or close contact with infected animals and people. Most of the deaths have been in children, who in this region of ******* are already beset by malnutrition and infectious ********* like cholera, measles and polio.

Should the outbreak spread globally, children in developed countries are likely to be less vulnerable to severe illness, experts have said.

Last year, for the first time, scientists discovered

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of this version of mpox, with cases split about equally among young men and women. According to

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, sometime around September, the virus gained mutations that enabled it to spread more readily among people. It has done so partly through

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.

This viral type has not surfaced outside *******. Over all, there have been more than 17,500 presumed and confirmed mpox cases in 13 countries,

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. Most of the cases and deaths have occurred in Congo.

Given the rapid spread, the declaration of a global health emergency was justified, said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who served on the 2022 mpox panel.

“I think we learned a great deal about the speed with which this virus can spread,” she said.

Amid rising numbers, Congo has

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, a ********* product called LC16 and Jynneos, the vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic that was used in 2022 in the ******* States and Europe. But Congo has yet to institute an immunization plan.

On Aug. 9, the W.H.O. invited vaccine manufacturers to apply for an

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, a prerequisite for international groups such as Gavi, a global vaccine alliance, to purchase and distribute the shots in low-income nations.

Bavarian Nordic has

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15,000 doses of Jynneos to be distributed in ******** countries. But that is a tiny fraction of the

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to control the outbreak, according to ******* C.D.C.

“The challenge is that these vaccines are not sufficient,” even if countries try to protect only the people at highest risk, said Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a ********* scientist and chair of the W.H.O.’s mpox emergency committee.

LC16 was

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in the 1970s. Clinical trials funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations are now evaluating whether Jynneos can protect children and people who have already been

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, Dr. Lurie said.

The organization is also supporting the development of a new mRNA vaccine made by BioNTech that would protect against mpox and related viruses, such as smallpox.

“This outbreak has been smoldering for quite a long time, and we continually have missed opportunities to shut it down,” Dr. Lurie said. “I’m really glad that everybody is now paying attention and focusing their efforts on this.”

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#W.H.O #Declares #Mpox #Outbreak #******** #Countries #Global #Emergency

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