Countries with mpox (monkeypox )
The amount of countries with the virus is increasing. According to the WHO, so far it has been detected in the following countries as confirmed at a press conference by the WHO Director General on 15th August 2024
The upsurge in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being driven by two separate outbreaks of two strains, or clades of the virus that causes mpox.
- The first is an outbreak in northwestern DRC of what was previously known as clade 1, now called clade 1a, which is endemic in that part of the country. This outbreak is primarily affecting children and is spread through multiple modes of transmission.
- The second is an outbreak in northeastern DRC of a new offshoot of clade 1 called clade 1b, which was first detected in September last year and is spreading rapidly, mainly through sexual transmission among adults.
In the past month, more than 100 cases of clade 1b have also been reported in four countries neighbouring DRC which had not reported mpox before”
The rapid spread of clade 1b, and its detection in neighbouring countries, is the main reason for the decision by the World Health Organisation to declare a public health emergency of international concern. – PHEIC
CLADE 1a
Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC )
CLADE 1b
Africa :-Burundi, Democraric Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
Outside of Africa :- Sweden, Thailand and India
CLADE 2
Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa
“Both clade 1a and 1b cause more severe disease than clade 2, which caused the global outbreak of mpox over which I declared a public health emergency of international concern in 2022.
Bringing the outbreaks under control, will require a complex, comprehensive and coordinated international response.
Cases have also since been reported in Sweden & Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines, and Morocco.