The Mpox Epidemic in Africa

On August 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an international public health emergency in response to a surge in cases of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, particularly on the African continent. The cause is a new strain, Clade Ib, which is feared to be highly transmissible. It is a different variant from the one that caused the 2022 epidemic in many previously non-endemic countries (Clade IIb, still present in several parts of the world).

While one case of infection with Clade Ib was reported in Sweden two weeks ago, officials confirmed another one in Thailand on Thursday. This bring the number of countries where Clade Ib has been detected to seven, also including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Uganda. The WHO has indicated that it expects more cases on European soil in the coming weeks, but the epidemic is currently mainly concentrated in Africa. As detailed in the following infographic based on data from the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO, the Democratic Republic of Congo currently has the highest number of suspected or confirmed cases on the continent. Almost 20,000 cases were recorded there between January 1 and August 23 and 575 people lost their lives over the same period. Four clades of the virus have now been identified in Africa (Clade Ia, Clade Ib, Clade IIa, Clade IIb), with the a-Clades being of zoonotic origin and the b-Clades tied to human-to-human transmission.