This is a worrying resurgence. The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern this Friday, December 15, about the risks of international spread of the mpox epidemic, long called monkeypox, which is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and whose sexual transmission accelerates.
“We are concerned that there is international transmission” from the DRC, Dr Rosamund Lewis, a WHO Mpox specialist, said at a press briefing in Geneva. “The epidemic is spreading rapidly in the country” which reported this year “more than 13,000 suspected cases”, or “more than twice the number of cases reported in previous years”, and among them “more than 600 deaths, she said.
The WHO had already sounded the alert at the end of November on this epidemic in the DRC, carried by variant I of the virus, and announced the sending of an evaluation mission. “The demographic picture in the newly infected areas is therefore concerning, as this is the first time that we have seen that the mpox virus affects more women than men,” said Dr Lewis.
More than 1,000 cases per month
Outbreaks of the mpox variant IIb had been observed from May 2022 in Europe and the United States, outside of the ten countries in central and west Africa where the disease has long been endemic. Enough to push the WHO to declare the maximum alert level on July 23, 2022.
On May 11, 2023, the WHO finally raised the alert in the face of the drop in cases, but called for remaining vigilant. And in recent months, reported cases have significantly increased again, going from around a hundred per month from June to August to “more than 1,000 per month” today, said Dr. Lewis. Outbreaks have been reported in Asia, particularly in Japan, Vietnam, China and Indonesia, while Cambodia reported its first case this week.
Accelerated spread in the DRC
The disease – first reported in humans in 1970 in the DRC – is characterized in particular by skin rashes on the genitals or in the mouth, and can be accompanied by bouts of fever, sore throat or pain. at the level of the lymph nodes.
The current epidemic in the DRC is of particular concern to the WHO because it is spreading to areas previously considered spared by mpox, including Kinshasa, Lualaba and South Kivu. And because this is the first time that sexual transmission among patients with variant I has been observed, recalled Dr. Lewis.
Since May 2022, more than 92,000 cases have been reported in 117 countries, according to the WHO. Public Health France reported a total number of 4,975 cases during its last national bulletin on this disease, last April. It is quite possible that this disease will return to the agenda.