Whatever happened to mpox? Is it still a threat?

"In August 2024, the news came in quick succession. On Tuesday Aug. 13, 2024 Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared mpox a public health emergency of continental concern. The very next day, the World Health Organization followed suit elevating the mpox outbreak to its highest threat level. We published a story with the headline: "WHO declares 2024 mpox surge a 'public health emergency of international concern.'" Today, those emergency declarations are still in effect but mpox has faded from the headlines."

"When Caroline Mugun shows up at work in Mombasa, Kenya, the patients are behind subdividers. "You see the agony the patient goes through. It's on another level," she says. Mugun works in an mpox isolation ward run by Doctors Without Borders, where patients stay as their painful lesions heal. The hope is to prevent the virus, which is contagious and spreads sexually and through close contact, from further expanding its reach."

"Before this outbreak, Kenya had never reported mpox cases before. Now, Africa CDC says the virus has shown up in Kenya's capital and it worries cases could grow exponentially, as has happened in other urban centers. Kenya is far from alone. During this mpox outbreak, many countries from Gambia to Burundi, from Uganda to South Sudan have dealt with mpox for the first time. Today, 26 African countries are in the midst of mpox outbreaks, up from 13 a year ago according to Africa CDC. And, while recent estimates suggest cases are dropping in several key countries, Africa CDC says, there have been over 100,000 suspected mpox cases so far this year."

Emergency declarations were issued in mid-August 2024 by Africa CDC and the World Health Organization as mpox cases surged across multiple countries. The emergency measures remain active even as media attention has waned. Mpox spread into new urban centers, including Kenya's capital, and reached countries with no prior cases, increasing the count of affected African nations from 13 to 26. Clinical care centers report severe, painful lesions requiring isolation and supportive care to limit transmission, which occurs through sexual contact and close contact. Africa CDC reports over 100,000 suspected cases this year, and critics contend the global response has been insufficient.

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