Africa registers more than 45,000 cases of MPOX

Published at: 25/10/2024 09:27 AM

The head of the Executive Office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Africa (CDC), epidemiologist Ngashi Ngongo, reported that so far in 2024 there have been 400% more confirmed cases of monkey pox (MPOX) than in all of 2023. The African continent registered 45,327 cases; of these, 9,114 confirmed cases of the disease and 1,014 deaths from this disease, since the beginning of 2024 in 18 countries in the region.

The head of communication at the CDC for Africa, Margaret Muigai Edwin, confirmed that the number of deaths is below those recorded last week, after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda reported that some of the deaths had doubled.

At the epicenter of the epidemic are the DRC and Burundi, which constitute 96% of the 1,001 new infections confirmed in the territory in the last week. Similarly, Gabon, Guinea-Conakri, Rwanda, Cameroon and South Africa reported no new cases in a month.

In this regard, Ngashi Ngongo stated that at least 5.6 million doses have been confirmed to be shipped to the region, including 2.5 million of the vaccine made by the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic and another three million of the Japanese drug KM Biologics. “The DRC, Nigeria, Rwanda, Central African Republic (CAR), South Africa and Ivory Coast have already prepared their vaccination plan,” Ngongo said.

Mazo News Team