WHO Says There Are About 30,000 Monkeypox Cases In Africa Throughout This Year

WHO Coordination, UNICEFDRC, Africa CDC, WFPDRC to tackle the monkeypox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Twitter/@OMSRDCONGO)

JAKARTA - Nearly 30,000 cases of suspected monkeypox (mux) have been reported in Africa so far this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

More than 800 people died from allegedly mpoxes across the continent in that period, the UN health agency said in its report.

Congo's neighboring country in central Africa, Burundi, has also been hit by a growing outbreak, the WHO added. The WHO statement did not provide any comparison figures from previous years.

The African Union's public health agency said 14,957 cases and 739 deaths were reported from seven countries affected by 2023, an increase of 78.5 percent in new cases from 2022.

There were 29,342 suspected cases and 812 deaths across Africa from January to September 15 this year, according to a WHO report.

Meanwhile, a total of 2,082 confirmed cases were reported worldwide in August alone, the highest since November 2022, the WHO said.

Last week, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said the total number ofmpox cases in Africa had increased to 29,152, including 6,105 confirmed cases and 738 deaths, since early 2024, quoted from Xinhua.

CDC Africa Director-General Jean Kaseya during a special online press conference on the outbreak of thempox in various countries in Africa on Thursday night said the continent reported 2,912 new cases in the past week alone, including 374 confirmed cases and 14 deaths, bringing the total number of cases reported this year to 29,152.

Kaseya said the cases were reported from 15 African countries across the five continent areas and noted that cross-border movement, malnutrition, and unsafe sexual practices were key risk factors for thempx.

It is known, Mpox, which is also known as monkeypox, was first detected in laboratory monkeys in 1958. This disease is believed to be transmitted from wild animals, such as mice, to humans or through human contact to humans.

This is a rare viral disease that usually spreads through body fluids, respiratory droplets, and other contaminated materials. These infections usually cause fever, rash and swelling of lymph nodes.