SAN FRANCISCO — Health officials around the world are closely monitoring outbreaks of MPOX, formerly known as monkeypox, in Africa.
More than 17,000 confirmed and suspected cases have been reported in Africa this year, more than the number of cases in all of 2023. The World Health Organization has now declared the situation a public health emergency.
“The sudden increase in MPOX cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other African countries is a public health emergency of international concern,” said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General. “WHO also warns of the potential for this MPOX virus to spread further to African countries and possibly outside the continent. To allow for rapid scale-up, WHO has disbursed $1.45 million from the WHO Emergency Fund for Emergencies. Further disbursements may be necessary in the coming days.”
While the declaration may sound alarming, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, said Americans need not panic and that the WHO’s decision was strategic.
“This particular strain has not yet been identified in the United States or the Bay Area,” he said. “This is not an alarmist event. This is about mobilizing global resources to focus on where the most activity is happening, and hopefully, this will prevent this from really impacting other parts of the world.”
Experts say this new strain of MPOX may cause more severe illness than the virus seen around the world in 2022 and is spreading across a wider range of people.
“In 2022, it was very much limited to one group of people – men and transgender people who have sex with men. But what we’re seeing now in Africa, and why we’re declaring it a public health emergency of international concern, is that it’s spreading across groups,” Chin Hong said. “It’s really, really important that we don’t discriminate between people.”
While the virus is spreading outside of Africa, Chin-Hong said the risk in the U.S. remains very low, but he encourages people who are eligible to get vaccinated to get vaccinated.
“We currently have enough vaccine for everyone who is eligible to receive the vaccine,” he said. “Anyone who hasn’t yet received it should get it. Anyone who has only had one dose should get their second dose. The eligible groups are men and transgender people who have sex with men.”
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