MPOX, known as monkeypox, has been declared a public health emergency. The clade Ib MPXV outbreak, which began in September 2023 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is having an increasing number of cases in the country and also expanding to neighboring countries, according to WHO. Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya,, and Uganda have been witnessing a surge in a new deadly strain of the virus.
The Cameroon Association of Science Journalists SciLife and African Media Network for the Promotion of Health and the Environment (Remapsen) organized their traditional meeting dubbed Café Science with Professor Richard Njouom of the Yaoundé Pasteur Centre and Dr. Nestor Atangana, Department of Disease Control at the Ministry of Health, as resource persons who shed much-needed light on MPOX commonly known as monkeypox.
Major facts: Why is Mpox a public health emergency?
Comparing the epidemic to COVID-19, many wonder why Mpox should be declared a public health emergency. WHO will immediately declare an international public health emergency so that all countries are aware of the situation. This is important as people travel from such places.
The warning mode means the situation is being monitored to see if there is any danger. In the alert mode, if something is happening, we have to monitor it better and initiate actions so that it does not surprise the country. The Center for Coordination of Public Health Emergency Operations in Cameroon is in alert mode. This center works in three ways: the warning, the alert, and the response modes.
Preventing MPOX—one of the activities is surveillance, reinforcing surveillance to understand what is going on. There is a specific treatment against the virus, though not available in Cameroon.
Mpox virulent strain not in Cameroon
Though Mpox has been circulating for long, the virulent strain is not in Cameroon. In 2023, at the same period, Cameroon already had more cases than we have currently. It should be remembered that in 2022 the country had 115 suspected cases, in 2023, 114 suspected cases, and this year, in the nineth month of the year, only 5 have been confirmed cases.
Antibiotics don’t work on the virus. In most viral diseases, the treatment is symptomatic. The best treatment for viral diseases is vaccination. Vaccination means injecting the same virus whose virulence has been reduced and the immunogenicity has been increased. The vaccine against MPOX was inspired by the vaccine against the human variant, smallpox, in 1950. Old research is used at the base and undergoes modifications to adapt to the current data, but it’s the knowledge that dates back a long time, has been tested, and has increased its effectiveness.
Transmitted from animals, the resurgence of MPOX points to the importance of One Health. There are documents elaborated to give directives as to what eco-guards should do. So some of them are trained, but more effort is required in the framework of zoonoses generally. So they are well-placed people to lead good actions at the level of reserves and all these interfaces, such as animals and the environment.