Sierra Leone has reported its first confirmed case of mpox since the highest level of global alert against the potentially deadly viral disease was triggered in 2024.
sda
“The patient is a 27-year-old man from the rural Western Zone district, near the capital Freetown. Health teams are actively carrying out tracing and investigations to identify possible exposed people and prevent spread,” said the National Public Health Agency in a press release on social networks.
The case was confirmed on January 10 through testing, the agency said. It does not specify which variant the patient is affected by.
Mpox, close to smallpox
Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as that of the terrible smallpox. It mainly manifests itself by a high fever and the appearance of skin lesions, called blisters.
Identified for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1970, the disease remained confined to around ten African countries for a long time. In 2022 it began to spread to the rest of the world, particularly developed countries where the virus had never circulated. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared its highest alert level in 2024.
Sierra Leonean health authorities say they quickly activated the response. The patient was placed in isolation care; his contacts are placed under surveillance for 21 days; surveillance has been strengthened in areas where the patient has been; a public awareness campaign is launched and health personnel receive protective equipment and are trained in prevention.
Sierra Leone was one of the countries most affected by Ebola which raged in West Africa ten years ago. The epidemic killed around 4,000 people there, including nearly 7% of health personnel, between 2014 and 2016.
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