Mpox cases have surged by 160% in Africa in the last year, but few treatments and vaccines available

BANGUI, Central African Republic — African health officials said mpox cases have increased by 160% in the past year, warning that the risk of further spread is high given the lack of effective treatments or vaccines on the continent.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released Wednesday that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 10 African countries this year. Burundi and Rwanda reported the virus for the first time.

He Central African Republic was the first to confirm a new outbreak on Monday, saying it was spreading to its densely populated capital, Bangui.

“We are very concerned about the cases of monkeypox that are ravaging the seventh region of the country,” said the Minister of Public Health of the Central African Republic, Pierre Somsé, on Monday.

On Wednesday, Kenya’s Health Ministry said it found mpox in a passenger traveling from Uganda to Rwanda at a border crossing in southern Kenya. In a statement, the ministry said a single case of mox was enough to justify an outbreak declaration.

Of the more than 14,000 cases reported to the Africa CDC, more than 96% of cases and deaths occur in the Congo. Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in a Congolese mining town that they feared could spread more easily among the people. Mpox is transmitted through close contact with infected people, including through sex.

The Africa CDC said the mortality rate from mox, about 3%, “has been much higher on the African continent compared to the rest of the world.” During the global mox emergency In 2022, less than 1% of people infected with the virus died.

The version of mpox seen in the Congo can kill up to 10% of infected people. The center noted that both mox cases in Rwanda had been in the Congo before testing positive.

An analysis of patients hospitalized from October to January in eastern Congo suggested that recent genetic mutations in the virus were the result of continued spread between people.

Unlike previous mpox outbreaks, where lesions were mainly seen on the chest, hands and feet, the new form of mpox causes milder symptoms and lesions mainly on the genitals, making it more difficult to detect.

The Africa CDC said nearly 70% of cases in Congo occur in children under 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths. The agency said the number of deaths across the continent has increased by 19% since last year.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders called the growing mpox outbreak “worrying,” noting that the disease had also been observed in camps for displaced people in the North Kivu region of Congo, which shares a border with Rwanda.

“There is a real risk of explosion, given the huge population movements coming and going,” said Dr. Louis Massing, medical director for the Congo for Doctors Without Borders.

Mpox outbreaks in the West have mostly been resolved with the help of vaccines and treatments, but almost none have been available in African countries, including the Congo.

“We can only ask… that the vaccines arrive in the country as quickly as possible so that we can protect the populations in the most affected areas,” Massing said in a statement.

In May, the WHO said that despite the current outbreak in Africa and the potential for the disease to spread internationally, not a single donor dollar had been invested to contain mpox.

Earlier this week, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations announced that it was launching a study in Congo and other African countries next month to see if giving people an mpox vaccine after they have been exposed to the disease could help prevent serious illness and death.

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Cheng reported from London. Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, contributed.

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