A public health emergency has been declared by the World Health Organisation over a new outbreak of mpox in several African nations, with at least one case now reported outside of the continent.
Formerly known as monkeypox, the infection has been on the rise in the Democratic Republic of Congo , which accounts for 96 per cent of all cases in Africa.
More than 17,000 cases have now been confirmed across the continent , with the WHO saying the outbreak is of “international concern”.
The public health emergency was declared by the group’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The outbreak comes as a new strain is identified, named clade 1, said to be spreading mainly through sexual networks. WHO says it has been identified in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda – all countries that have never reported cases of mpox before.
One case of this new strain has now been detected in Sweden, the country’s public health agency has confirmed. They say the person, who is now in isolation, had contracted it during a stay in an African country where other cases have been reported.
Health officials in Thailand also said on Wednesday that they were seeking to determine the strain of an mpox case in a European man who arrived from Africa the previous week.
Both the Philippines and Pakistan reported that mpox cases they had been testing had been confirmed to be the previous variant already circulating in many countries and not the new clade 1 strain which is of concern to the WHO.
Here is a map of all mpox cases, of every strain, that have been confirmed around the world since the start of 2024:
“The patient did not travel abroad, that means the virus is already here in the Philippines,” health secretary Teddy Herbosa said.
Dr Tedros said: “The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighbouring countries are very worrying.
“On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.”
The organisation is working with nations worldwide to coordinate accelerated vaccine access and containment measures. They say an initial sum of $15m will be required for an effective response.
Here are all the places where cases of clade 1 have now been confirmed:
Responding to the outbreak, the US government said the risk to the general public is “very low” with no cases of clade I reported there. However, the nation has seen 1,399 cases of other mpox strains since the start of the year, nearly level with the DRC.
A US spokesperson said: “In addition to ongoing health support, in the last few months the United States has provided an additional $17m (£13.1m ) to support clade I mpox preparedness and response efforts in Central and Eastern Africa.
“The funding has enabled stronger surveillance, risk communication, and community engagement, as well as needed laboratory supplies and diagnostics, clinical services, and vaccine planning.”
So far, the risk assessment for the entire world has been set to ‘moderate’, with cases of clade I being largely located in the DRC and neighbouring countries.
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