WHO convenes emergency committee to assess mpox risk

The head of the World Health Organization has convened an expert group to determine whether the growing spread of a deadlier strain of mpox represents a public health emergency of international concern.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he activated the Emergency Committee on Wednesday in light of the growing spread of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the potential for further spread within and outside Africa.

“The committee will meet as soon as possible and will be made up of independent experts from a range of relevant disciplines from around the world,” Tedros said at a media briefing on Wednesday.

Outbreaks of the mpox virus, which was previously known as monkeypox, have been reported in the DR Congo for decades but this year has been especially severe with more than 14,000 confirmed cases and 511 deaths.

“The number of cases reported in the first six months of this year match the number reported in all of last year, and the virus has spread to previously unaffected provinces,” Tedros said. “In the past month, about 50 confirmed and more suspected cases have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.”

Of particular concern is clade 1b, which causes more severe disease compared to the variant which spread around the world in 2022. Clade 1b is the variant which is causing the current outbreaks in eastern DRC, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The clade in Burundi is not yet known.

Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called on clinicians across the U.S. to maintain a “heightened index of suspicion” for mpox in people who recently traveled to DR Congo or countries sharing its borders.

“Stopping transmission will require a comprehensive response, with communities at the center,” Tedros said. He added that WHO has already released $1 million from the WHO Contingency Fund to support scaling up the response, with more funds soon to be released.

Two vaccines for mpox have already been approved and Tedros said he has triggered the process for Emergency Use Listing for both, which will accelerate access to the vaccine, particularly for lower-income countries.