While Mpox cases are rising in Africa and beginning to rise in other countries such as Canada, World Health Organization WHO on Wednesday again categorized the virus as a global health issue of concern.
The declaration comes more than two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global Mpox emergency in 2022 and this has faded in many areas. However, it became rampant from January 2024 and especially in Africa, hence the description by the health officials as ‘unprecedented’.
And here in Canada, Toronto Public Health has called on the residents who have not been immunized to get the shot as the infection rates have surged. The local health unit said on Tuesday it has recorded 93 infections of the virus with end of July against 21 with a similar period in 2023.
Health authorities
While health authorities are still struggling to contain the disease due to its continuous transmission and now a new mutation that is feared to be deadlier in Africa, an infectious disease physician at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., Dr. Mark, Loeb has raised concern on the possibility of its continued Circulation.
“We see a massive increase in cases in Central Africa especially in (Democratic Republic of Congo) and other cases we see around those countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda,” he said to Global News.
He said: “I think the countries which have poor surveillance and poor management will have more deaths. And as we have heard, it is affecting very young children; there are very high rates of mortality with this strain – it is really important to get it under control.
What is Mpox?
First described in monkeys in1960 it was historically endemic in central and west Africa with transmission by contact with infected animals.
Mpox is a relative of smallpox; however, it is not as deadly and usually produces less severe signs.
“Mpox is a disease which is viral, and it results in rashes at the area of contact and these may include the face if you have been involved in kissing someone and genital area if you have been involved in sexual intercourse,” Dr. Rita Shahin a medical practitioner who works with Toronto Public Health.
Although it is not listed under the sexually transmitted infections, it is highly contagious and transmitted through direct physical contact with body fluids or scabs, contaminated clothing, underclothing, towels, bedding, toys or cutlery as observed by Toronto Public Health
Mpox is easily distinguished into two genetic variants that are referred to as clade I and clade II which are native to central and west Africa respectively as defined by the WHO.is considered to be more infectious and to have a higher proportion of severe diseases, in contrast to Clade II. Sporadic cases are being detected worldwide in the ongoing mpox outbreak since 2022, which is due to Clade II mpox that includes the one seen in Canada.
What other treatment is there for mpox?
Imvamune is a licensed vaccine utilized for smallpox and mpox vaccination in the Canadian population of adults who are 18 years and above in_selected high-risk populations.
The best protection is offered by two doses of the vaccine with the gap of 28 days between the first and the second vaccines according to PHAC.
“We had the first wave of immunization in 2022 when we recorded the first outbreak; those people are still immune, and therefore do not require a booster dose,” said Shahin.
‘We do still want to stress to people to contact their sexual-health-care provider or make an appointment.’
Shahin said that for individuals who have severe symptoms of mpox, characterized by severe pain and fever, antiviral drugs have been developed, and specifically mentioned tecovirimat.
What has befallen Africa?
The Africa CDC declared on Tuesday that the rising incidence of mpox that has lately swept across the continent is a health crisis, the virus might eventually cross borders.
Mpox appears to have taken a terrible turn in Africa this year as least 14,000 people have contracted it and 524 have died —a 160 per cent increase from last year’s figures, the WHO has established.
The WHO said mpox was recently identified for the first time in four East African countries: The east African countries include; Burundi, Kenyan, Rwanda and Uganda. Infections of all those cases were associated with the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Health authorities in the Ivory Coast and South Africa reported the MPs outbreak not of the mpox that emerged in 2022 but of another and less virulent strain of the disease.
specimens, some scientists said that they documented a new species of mpox in a mining city in Congo that can cause up to 10 per cent mortality rate and is potentially more contagious.
Old mpox outbreak involved mainly cephalics with chest, hands and feet lesions; the new type mpox produces lesser symptoms and genital ones at that. That makes it even less noticeable, which means that people might also endanger the health of others while they themselves are asymptomatic.
Mpox in Canada
The first large mpox outbreak in Canada took place in 2022-2023; the case count reached 1,541 in late June 2022 , per data from PHAC.
The gating affected the group of gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with them in the ranged of 18 years and above.
and 49 years. Majority of the cases were recorded in the three provinces, namely; Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.
After the first wave of the cases, numbers reduced but there has been a steady rise since the beginning of 2024, particularly in Toronto according to Shahin.
“And even more of a spike in June and July, for some reason, which could be because people are meeting more partners during Pride or are just more social in the summer.”
— with additional reporting by Global News reporter Gabby Rodrigues and the Associated Press