The speed of spread of the mpox virus in sub-Saharan Africa is slowing slightly, although the number of cases remains on the rise in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicenter of the current epidemic, the Union health agency said on Thursday. African (AU).
More than 11,450 cases have been recorded over the past four weeks in 15 African countries, compared to 12,802 over the previous four weeks, according to figures from the Africa CDC presented during an online press briefing. “If we can speak of a slowdown (…), we are still in the acute phase of the epidemic,” noted the director general of the Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya. “We continue to lose lives.”
Since January, 50,840 cases and 1,083 virus-related deaths have been reported. Central Africa concentrates 85.8% of cases and almost all (99.4%) of recorded deaths. The DRC, which has more than 39,000 cases and has recorded more than 1,000 deaths since the start of the year, launched a still “limited” vaccination campaign last month, according to the Africa CDC, with some 51,000 people vaccinated in a population of more than 100 million.
The country, which is among the poorest in the world, must rely on vaccine donations to give priority to populations deemed to be at risk, such as caregivers and sex workers.
Furthermore, the only vaccine deployed at this stage, manufactured by the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic, is only intended for adults. However, almost 40% of contaminations in the DRC concern children under 15 years old. “Political and financial support is essential to control the current epidemic and prevent a sexually transmitted pandemic more serious than Covid-19,” warned the Africa CDC.
Around 900,000 vaccines have been allocated by international health agencies to nine African countries most affected by the epidemic, including the Central African Republic, Rwanda and Uganda. The largest will go to the DRC (85% of doses).
Nineteen African countries are affected by the virus previously called monkeypox. The viral disease, which spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted between humans, causes fever, muscle pain and skin lesions.
