Health workers move between wards at the Mpox treatment center at the Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital, north of Goma, on August 17, 2024. With around 16,000 cases registered since the beginning of the year, the Democratic Republic of Congo is the hotspot and epicenter of the epidemic that prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise the highest level of alert at the international level on Wednesday.
Guerchom Ndebo | Afp | Getty Images
Mpox is “not the new Covid” and the risk to the general population is low, said the World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Dr. Hans Kluge rejected comparisons between MPOX and the coronavirus pandemic.
“We can and must fight MPOX together – across regions and continents,” said Kluge.
“Will we choose to put the systems in place to control and eradicate MPOX worldwide? Or will we fall into another cycle of panic and subsequent neglect?” he added.
“How we respond now and in the years to come will prove to be a crucial test for Europe – and the world.”
The United Nations health agency recently declared Mpox a global health emergency for the second time in two years. The disease had previously broken out in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread from there to neighboring African countries.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a rare viral infection that spreads through close contact and is most common in West or Central Africa. It is classified into two different viral strains or clades.
The World Health Organization declared the spread of Mpox a global health emergency last week.
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Clade I, endemic to Central Africa, is known to cause more severe disease and death. In some outbreaks, up to 10% of those infected have died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), although more recent outbreaks have seen lower mortality rates.
The Clade II virus group, endemic in West Africa, caused the global Mpox outbreak in 2022. Infections have been shown to be less severe. The CDC estimates that more than 99.9% of people survive this strain.
Sweden on Thursday became the first country outside Africa to register a case of the Mpox clade I variant, which is at the centre of the latest outbreak.
“Today, we are seeing about 100 new cases of Mpox clade II every month in the European Region,” said Kluge.
“However, the current state of alert due to Group I gives Europe the opportunity to refocus on Group II,” he added.
