Does WHO still consider mpox global health crisis?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday announced that it is set to convene its Emergency Committee on November 22 to assess whether mpox continues to pose a global health crisis.

The UN health body classified the disease as a public health emergency of international concern — the highest alert level — in August after the emergence of a new viral variant, known as clade Ib, in various regions of Africa.

In a report on Monday, the WHO revealed that there have been 46,794 confirmed and suspected cases in Africa this year through November 3, including 1,081 deaths with the Democratic Republic of Congo being the most affected country, followed by Burundi and Uganda.

Although the disease continues to spread in the continent, the WHO also revealed that cases of mpox in Congo, where the new and more infectious variant of the disease was first detected, appear to be "plateauing," MedPage Today reported.

According to the report, while the overall number of infections shows a general upward trend, the situation in South Kivu — a hotspot for the virus among sex workers and miners in the gold mining town of Kamituga — seems to have stabilised.

Hwowever, the surrounding areas of the country, along with Burundi and Ugandam continue to see rising cases.

The WHO emphasised that limited testing is hampering efforts to fully understand how exactly the virus is spreading.

According to data from last week, Congo reported fewer than 100 laboratory-confirmed mpox cases, down from nearly 400 in July.

In recent weeks, experts say that infections appear to be stabilising, offering a chance for health authorities to definitively stamp out the outbreak.

Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. Initial vaccine doses were allocated this month for the nine African countries hardest hit.