2023–2024 mpox epidemic

An epidemic of mpox began in Africa in September 2023. As of August 2024, more than 17,000 cases have been reported with over 500 deaths. 

On 14 August 2024, the World Health Organization named the epidemic a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

Background
In May 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that mpox (Monkeypox) was a global health emergency. The disease had infected 87,000 people and caused 140 deaths when the WHO ended its global emergency the following year.

The disease came back in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by January 2024. In April of the same year, a subgroup of clade I of mpox was found in a small mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In August 2024, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC) said that spreading mpox outbreaks in Africa had become a public health emergency, with over 500 deaths being reported.

Outbreak
On 30 July 2024, the Central African Republic found an outbreak of mpox in Bangui, after a period of time when the disease was mostly found in rural areas.

On 15 August 2024, Sweden's Public Health Agency reported the first case outside of Africa, was from a person who had gotten sick with Clade 1 mpox during a stay in an area of Africa. That same day, a suspected case of mpox was reported in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which was later confirmed to be an actual case of mpox.

On 19 August 2024, the Congolese government launched a response plan of forty-nine million dollars, for awareness raising, deployment of teams and care of patients and awaits additional doses of vaccines.

Related pages
 2022–2023 mpox outbreak

References

Category:21st-century epidemics
Category:September 2023 events
Category:August 2024 events
Category:September 2024 events
Category:October 2024 events