"Monkeypox" Raises Global Concerns

As cases of the "Monkeypox" virus among humans rise globally, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Africa are considering declaring a state of emergency. The CDC in the United States is urging doctors to exercise caution, as reported by the Washington Post. Global health authorities are sounding the alarm over the increase in "mpox" cases in Africa, which have resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of sick individuals, leading to suffering in countries that previously escaped the viral disease. Cases in Africa have surpassed 15,000 this year, exceeding the total for all of 2023. The infections are concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the disease has been endemic for decades, reaching record levels and primarily affecting and killing children. The virus has spread to countries that have never reported outbreaks, including Kenya and Ivory Coast. Officials stated last Thursday that the CDC in Africa "is likely to declare a health emergency next week." The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that he would convene a committee to consider declaring another global health emergency. Meanwhile, the CDC in the United States issued a warning this week "advising doctors to be cautious about symptoms in travelers from affected countries, emphasizing that the risk remains low in the United States." For his part, Jean Kassi, the director general of the CDC in Africa, stated in a press briefing last Thursday: "This is a major alarm for the world; we are losing youth in Africa." The disease spread significantly in 2022 to dozens of countries that rarely faced the virus, prompting a strong public health response and an intensive vaccination campaign that helped mitigate the spread of the virus.