With over 500 dead, UN declares monkeypox emergency

The World Health Organization on Wednesday said a new strain of the virus was spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries. The UN’s heath agency last week asked pharmaceutical companies to collaborate on new vaccine proposals, possibly for emergency authorization.

When was the last time the WHO declared a monkeypox-related emergency? Two years ago, monkeypox began spreading via sexual contact to countries where it had not yet appeared, WHO said. The agency declared an international health emergency in July 2022 and the order lasted until May 2023.

What do the numbers look like right now? The Democratic Republic of Congo has reported year-over-year increases in monkeypox cases for the past decade. But DRC authorities have already encountered more cases this year than they did in all of last year, WHO said. Already the virus has infected roughly 15,600 people and claimed the lives of more than 500.

Over the past month, more than 100 cases appeared in four countries surrounding the DRC that don’t ordinarily encounter monkeypox infections, WHO reported. They include Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Officials believe the actual number of cases in those countries could be much higher.

Dig deeper: Read R. Albert Mohler Jr.’s column in WORLD Opinions about how the spread of monkeypox is assisted by both moral and medical confusion.