TEHRAN –A coordinated response at the global level is needed to avoid scattered and contradictory decisions in addressing mpox (monkey-pox), halt the outbreak of the disease, and save human lives, Farshid Rezaei, an official with the health ministry, has announced.

Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the mpox virus. It can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, and fever. Most people fully recover, but some get very sick.

Common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions which can last 2–4 weeks accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.

Following the outbreak of monkeypox in the African continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a public health emergency of international concern, ISNA reported.

WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Wednesday, August 14, that according to the International Health Regulations (2005), the surge in monkeypox cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and an increasing number of  African countries constitutes a public health Emergency of International Importance (PHEIC).

The declaration was made based on the recommendation of the emergency committee of international health regulations composed of independent experts.

The committee declared that the increase in cases of monkeypox is an emergency situation with the potential to spread further in African countries and possibly beyond the continent.

WHO Regional Director for Africa,  Matshidiso Moeti, said, “Significant efforts are already underway in close collaboration with communities and governments, with our country teams working on the frontlines to help reinforce measures to curb mpox.

With the growing spread of the virus, we’re scaling up further through coordinated international action to support countries bring the outbreaks to an end.”

The current increase in monkey-pox in some parts of Africa, along with the spread of a new strain of monkey-pox virus which is sexually transmitted, is an emergency not only for Africa but for the whole world.

Surveys show that the monkeypox mortality rate this year is higher compared to the fatality rate due to the disease last year.

More than 156,000 cases of monkey-pox have been reported so far this year, of which 537 people lost their lives.

The monkeypox virus was discovered in Denmark (1958) in monkeys kept for research and the first reported human case of mpox was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, 1970).

Mpox can spread from person to person or occasionally from animals to people. A global outbreak occurred in 2022–2023.

MT/MG