A poster bringing attention to the mpox outbreak hangs at the Goma General Hospital, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (AP Photo / Moses Sawasawa)
Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Important Takeaways:
- The World Health Organization declared Wednesday that the increasing spread of mpox in Africa is a global health emergency, warning the virus might ultimately spill across international borders.
- WHO said there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths in Africa this year, which already exceed last year’s figures.
- WHO’s emergency declaration is meant to spur donor agencies and countries into action. But the global response to previous declarations has been mixed.
- Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in a Congolese mining town that can kill up to 10% of people and may spread more easily.
- Like any infectious disease, the new form of mpox seen in Congo could cross borders — cases have already been identified in four other East African countries.
- Unlike COVID-19 or measles, mpox is not airborne and typically requires close, skin-to-skin contact to spread.
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