Mpox no longer a global emergency, says WHO

LONDON (AP) The World Health Organization said on Thursday that the global outbreak of mpox, which initially baffled experts when the smallpox-related disease spread to more than 100 countries last year is no longer an international emergency, after a dramatic drop in cases in recent months.

Last July, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said mpox, also known as monkeypox, was an extraordinary situation called a global crisis.. In doing so, it overruled the WHO expert committee, which did not recommend emergency designation.

Tedros said the new way mpox was infecting people, through sexual contact in many countries that had never previously identified cases, raised many concerns that deserved more attention; almost all of the cases involved men who were gay, bisexual or had sex with other men. It was the biggest outbreak of mpox ever.

He told a press conference on Thursday that his panel of experts had concluded that the recent dramatic decline in cases, with around 90% fewer cases over the past three months, was no longer an acute concern.

We are now seeing steady progress in controlling the epidemic based on lessons learned from HIV and working closely with the communities most affected, Tedros said. I am happy to declare that mpox is no longer a global health emergency. He added that the feared backlash against communities hardest hit by the outbreak has largely failed to materialize.

Thursday’s announcement comes after WHO downgrades COVID-19 last week when he said the worst of the pandemic was over and coronavirus should be managed like other respiratory illnesses.

Mpox has been established in parts of Central and West Africa for decades, where people are mainly infected by animals like wild rodents. But the disease was not known to trigger large outbreaks beyond the continent or to spread easily among people until last May, when dozens of outbreaks emerged in Europe, North America and elsewhere.

Mpox most commonly causes symptoms such as rash, fever, headache, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes. Skin lesions can last for up to a month, and the disease is spread through close physical contact with an infected patient, their clothing, or bedding. Most people do not need medical treatment to recover.

Scientists eventually concluded the unprecedented outbreak was gender-linked among gay and bisexual men at raves in Spain and Belgium, marking a significant break from the typical spread pattern of mpox in Africa, where outbreaks have not spread across borders.

Shortly after Tedros classified monkeypox as a global emergency last year, outbreaks in Europe and North America waned and there were no signs of widespread transmission beyond gay men. bisexual or have had sex with other men. European health authorities have stated that 98% of mpox patients are men and of these, 96% are men who have sex with men.

Mpox vaccines in wealthy countries were rapidly rolled out and reported cases of severe illness were relatively rare. Cases have since slowed to a trickle in Europe and North America. To date, the WHO says there have been more than 87,000 cases and 140 deaths worldwide. Yet last week the WHO said cases were up 64% from the previous week, with most cases in the Americas and the Western Pacific.

The United States has reported the largest outbreak, with more than 30,000 cases. This week, the US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control said it was investigating a recent spike in cases nationwide, including in Chicago. Scientists have previously warned that mpox could take root as a new sexually transmitted disease, as authorities have said its spread could continue in some populations indefinitely.

In Central and West Africa, mpox cases continue to increase, mainly due to a spike in Congo. The WHO said there had been an increase of around 7% in new infections over the past two weeks, and Tedros said the routes of transmission were still not well understood. Cases have also been reported in the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Liberia and Ghana.

As wealthy countries including Britain, the United States and Germany rushed to vaccinate their at-risk populations after the mpox outbreak emerged, Africa only received its first large shipment of vaccines last December.

WHO emergency chief Dr Michael Ryan has slammed the global community for his failure to support the effort to contain the outbreak last year.

Not a dollar has been received from donors to support this response, he said. He said the WHO had funded these efforts itself and acknowledged that some donors may have directly supported affected countries. I was quite surprised to think that we couldn’t get funding for mpox.