CAIRO – 13 August 2024: The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in a statement that as of June 2024, a total of 934 new laboratory-confirmed cases of Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) and 4 deaths have been reported from 26 countries. This indicates the ongoing transmission of the Mpox virus globally.
The WHO highlighted that the most affected regions, ranked by the number of confirmed cases, include:
African Region: 567 cases
Americas: 175 cases
European Region: 100 cases
Western Pacific Region: 81 cases
Southeast Asia: 11 cases
Notably, the Eastern Mediterranean Region reported no cases in June 2024.
The WHO noted that with decreasing reports from countries, the currently reported global data likely underestimates the actual number of Mpox cases.
In the African region, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reported the majority of confirmed Mpox cases (96%). Due to limited access to testing in rural areas, only 24% of clinically compatible cases (reported as suspected) were tested in the DRC in 2024, with a national positivity rate of about 65%. Therefore, the confirmed case numbers likely underestimate the true burden.
This report also includes updates on the geographic expansion of the Dengue fever virus in the African WHO region from July to August 2024, not yet reflected in global surveillance data by June 30, 2024. Four new countries in East Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda) reported their first cases of Dengue fever, all linked to the expanding outbreak in East and Central Africa.
All sequenced cases from these countries belong to Group 1. Separately, Côte d'Ivoire is experiencing an outbreak linked to Group 2 of the Dengue fever virus, and South Africa reported two more confirmed cases.
Comments
Leave a Comment