WHO maintains maximum alert level for smallpox epidemic

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The World Health Organization decided on Friday to maintain the maximum alert level for the herpes occlusive epidemic as the number of cases and affected countries continues to rise, according to a statement released on Friday.

“This decision was made due to the growing number of cases and their continued geographic spread, operational challenges on the ground, and the need to establish and maintain a coordinated response between countries and partners,” the statement said.

“The WHO Director-General, following the recommendations of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee, has determined that the resurgence of mpox continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern,” the organization’s maximum level of health hazard, stated for the first time on August 14 this year.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the worst-hit country, followed by Burundi and Nigeria.

The disease has long been known as “monkeypox” because it is caused by a virus similar to smallpox. However, health authorities no longer use the term to avoid racist connotations.

MPOX is characterized by skin lesions such as pustules, high fever and muscle pain. First identified in the DRC in 1970, it has long remained limited to a dozen African countries.

But in 2022, it began to spread to the rest of the world, especially developed countries where the virus had never circulated.

There are two concurrent epidemics: one caused by clade 1 in central Africa, which mainly affects children, and another caused by a new variant, clade 1b, which affects adults in eastern DRC and neighboring countries.

vog/mab/meb