The African Union's health agency on Tuesday declared a “public health emergency,” its highest level of alert, over the continent's growing smallpox outbreak, issuing a “clear call to action” to stop its spread.
A total of 38,465 cases of the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, have been recorded in 16 African countries since January 2022, with 1,456 deaths, including a 160% increase in cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data released last week by the Africa Health Agency (CDC).
“Smallpox has now crossed borders, affecting thousands of people across our continent (…) It is with a heavy heart but with an unwavering commitment to our people and fellow Africans that I declare smallpox a continent-wide public health emergency,” said Jean Kassena, head of the Africa CDC, during a press conference.
“This statement is not just a formality, it is a clear call to action. It is an acknowledgement that we can no longer afford to be reactive. We must be proactive and aggressive in our efforts to contain and eradicate this scourge,” he added.
This announcement, which will notably enable the release of funds for vaccines and a continental response, comes on the eve of a meeting of the WHO Emergency Committee to assess whether it is necessary to declare the highest level of health alert at the international level to confront this disease.
New breed
Africa is facing the spread of a new strain of the virus, discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September 2023 and named “Clade Ib”, which is more deadly and more transmissible than previous strains.
Cases have been recorded in different parts of the continent (Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, etc.).
According to the Africa CDC, the fatality rate from the virus is over 3%, and children under 15 are the most affected, accounting for at least 60% of cases.
Mpox is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted through close physical contact with a person infected with the virus.
Clyde EV causes a rash all over the body, whereas previous strains were characterized by a rash and localized lesions on the mouth, face, or genitals.
Smallpox was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), with the spread of the Clade I subtype (of which the new variant is a mutation), which has since been mainly confined to countries in West and Central Africa, and patients generally come into contact with infected animals.
In 2022, a global epidemic, carried by subtype 2, spread to about a hundred countries where the disease was not endemic, mainly affecting gay and bisexual men.
The World Health Organization then declared a state of maximum alert in July 2022 in the face of the outbreak of cases in the world, then lifted it less than a year later, in May 2023. The epidemic caused about 140 deaths out of about 90,000 cases.
