BALTIMORE – The World Health Organization has declared the increasing spread of monkeypox in Africa a global health emergency, with doctors warning that the virus could eventually cross international borders.
Cases of MPOX have been confirmed in more than a dozen African countries this year, prompting authorities to declare a global health emergency.
By far the largest outbreak is in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“There is a possibility, and that possibility has occurred, that the disease will flare up again and get out of control. In some countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the disease is already out of control,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University.
In 2022, the decades-old virus sparked outbreaks in more than 70 countries, including here in the United States, causing symptoms such as fever, chills, body aches and lesions.
Mpox is mainly transmitted through skin contact. Doctors say vaccination is the best way to prevent the disease
“During the previous outbreak of Mpox in the United States, only about 25% of the at-risk population was vaccinated. So there are still a lot of people who are in that at-risk group who need to be vaccinated, and perhaps a lot of people who have only received one dose and need a second dose,” Adalja said.
The risk to the general population is classified as “very low”, but authorities assume that sporadic imported cases will continue to occur.
“The goal is not so much to raise awareness or alarm people in the United States. It’s more about ensuring coordination and cooperation in Africa to bring resources like the vaccine to that part of the world,” Adalja explained.
In Africa, treatments or vaccines are not readily available.
