According to the African Union Health Authority (CDC), 1,100 people have already died from the Mpox infection on the continent this year. Without rapid “concrete measures,” the epidemic will “get out of control,” CDC chief Jean Kaseya warned Thursday.
A total of 42,000 cases have been recorded in Africa since January, including for the first time in Zambia and Zimbabwe. This brings the number of countries where the virus has been detected to 18. So far, it has been proven that 16 African countries 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.
Congo as the epicenter of the outbreak
According to Kaseya, most deaths were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak, where vaccination against the disease began earlier this month. But there are “new cases week after week” across the continent.
18 countries are ‘too many’, Kaseya warned. “We cannot continue like this,” he emphasized and once again appealed to the international community to do more to combat Mpox (also known as monkeypox, nut) and to immediately release the funds promised for this purpose.
The virus was first discovered in 1958
The Mpox virus was first discovered in laboratory monkeys in Denmark in 1958. The disease, which causes fever, muscle aches and pox-like pustules on the skin, was known for decades as monkeypox.
Source: Krone
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