Ampox cases and deaths are rising in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the health minister said on Monday, while the central African country awaits vaccines from the United States and Japan.
This year the numbers have jumped from 16,000 cases and 548 deaths in a matter of days to 16,700 cases and “a little over 570” deaths, Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said.
“We are talking about a continental emergency,” Kamba said at a press conference held after the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on affected countries to scale up vaccination programmes to combat the more deadly form of ampox.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the ampox surge in Africa a global public health emergency. Outbreaks have been reported in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda since July. A case of the new strain has also been detected in Sweden.
The United States has pledged 50,000 vaccine doses for the DRC, while Japan on Monday agreed to send 3.5 million doses “just for children”, a medical source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The source said the DRC “plans to vaccinate four million people, including 3.5 million children”.
“I am hopeful that by next week we will see vaccines arriving,” Kamba said.
Urging people to get vaccinated, he said, “Vaccine is the solution to our problems.”
“Our strategic vaccination plan is ready. We are just waiting for the vaccines to arrive.”
WHO demands vaccines
Cases have now been reported in all 26 provinces of the country with a population of about 100 million.
The World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” – its highest alert category.
On Monday, it issued updated guidelines to combat the surge, including for “quickly adapting vaccination strategies and plans in relevant sectors.”
It called on countries to “increase efforts to conduct intensive investigations of cases and outbreaks of ampoxil disease” to understand its transmission and prevent its spread “to family members and communities”.
It says health authorities should report new cases on a weekly basis and “identify, monitor and assist people who have come into contact with people with ampox to prevent further transmission.”
It says countries should be prepared to provide food and other support for ampox patients, “including, as needed and possible, isolation in care centers and guidance for care at home.”
The WHO said there should be greater “cross-border collaboration” to monitor and deal with suspected ampox cases “without resorting to general travel and trade restrictions that would unnecessarily impact the local, regional or national economy.”
According to the WHO, although ampox has been known for decades, a new, more deadly and more contagious strain – clade 1b – causes death in about 3.6 percent of cases, with children at greater risk.
Kamba said Mpox was reaching “more and more young people” in the DRC, with many children under the age of 15 affected.
A total of 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases of ampox have been reported in Africa since the start of the year, including a rise of 1,200 in a single week, the African Union health agency said on Saturday.
Previously called monkeypox, the virus was discovered in 1958 in research monkeys in Denmark.
It was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the present D.R.C.
Ampox is caused by a virus that is spread to humans by infected animals, but it can also spread from human to human through close physical contact.
This disease causes fever, muscle pain and large boil-like lesions on the skin.
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