A viral surge in cases of mpox — formerly known as monkeypox — across Africa has caused the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare the disease a global health emergency. This is the second time the disease has been given the WHO’s most severe level of warning.
After a serious outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo led to the disease spreading to a dozen countries that had not previously had it, the WHO’s director Tedros Ghebreyesus said the potential of further spread “should concern us all”.
Africa’s Centre for Disease Control recorded more than 15,600 cases of the disease, and more than 537 deaths in 2024, with the latest outbreaks affecting children the most.
The last time the WHO declared mpox a global health emergency was in 2022, fresh off the back of the world’s COVID-19 pandemic and just as things looked like they were returning to “pre-COVID times”.
And with only a few cases of mpox being recorded in Australia at that time, you’d be forgiven for not keeping up to speed with the key facts about the infectious viral disease. So let’s fix that with an effective vaccination of info.
What is mpox?
Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that causes flu-like symptoms and its characteristic skin lesions, rashes, bumps, blisters, and boils. Like other pox diseases, mpox is transmitted through physical contact with infected humans/animals.
It primarily infects humans and animals and is endemic to countries in central and west Africa.
Though most with the disease recover between two to four weeks, new “clades” (strains) of the virus have higher fatality and infectivity rates. Clade 1, the deadlier strain, has had an offshoot known as Clade 1b which experts say is also more infectious.
In 2022 the widespread of the disease was a result of Clade 2b’s highly infectious (but less deadly) nature and the fact it could spread through sexual contact. In this outbreak, less than one per cent of people who caught the disease died.
Clade 1b is the first instance of a Clade 1 strain of mpox that has been confirmed to also spread through sexual contact, hence additional concern from the WHO about the potential intercontinental spread.
What are the symptoms of mpox?
The symptoms of mpox include:
- rashes
- skin lesions and blisters
- fever
- sore throat
- headache
- muscle aches
- back pain
- low energy
- swollen lymph nodes
Is there a vaccine for mpox?
Though there is no approved vaccination specifically for mpox, the vaccinations used for smallpox are found to be effective against mpox.
The main vaccine used to protect against mpox in Australia is called JYNNEOS, however, the accessibility of smallpox vaccines in Africa has posed a challenge.
In order to control the outbreak, the African CDC has requested 10 million vaccinations, however, it only has 200,000.
The goal of the WHO declaring the disease a global emergency is that countries around the world step up their game and get the vaccines to the countries that need them most, such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Why was mpox previously known as monkeypox?
When it was first found in humans in 1970, mpox was originally named monkeypox due to the fact the virus that causes the disease was first found in captive monkeys by doctors in Denmark in 1958.
This name was found to be misleading however, as the disease does not come from monkeys. The source of mpox is currently unknown.
The disease began being referred to as mpox after a recommendation from the WHO in 2022 said that as well as being factually incorrect, the original name had also resulted in “racist and stigmatising language online”.
[Images: Getty]
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