Attachments
Highlights
• Since the last situation report, three additional countries have confirmed travel-related cases of clade Ib MPXV: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• For the first time, local transmission of clade Ib MPXV was reported outside of Africa, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where three (all) household members of the initial case (who had travelled to affected East African countries with clade Ib) were confirmed to have mpox.
• The number of mpox cases in Africa shows a general rising trend, driven mainly by cases reported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Uganda.
• As of 3 November 2024, Clade Ib monkeypox virus (MPXV) has been detected in six provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: South Kivu, North Kivu, Kinshasa, Kasai, Tshopo and Tanganyika, with no new areas known to be affected since the last update. Additionally, 11 other countries have also reported clade Ib MPXV cases.
• In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the overall number of new reported mpox cases appears to be plateauing in South Kivu, which is still reporting the most cases in the country. In other provinces there are mixed epidemiological trends, with a few hotspots often driving the increase in case reports. Testing challenges in several provinces in the country persist, hindering an understanding of the evolving epidemiology.
• Further details about the epidemic dynamics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other countries can be found in the WHO mpox surveillance report, which now also displays subnational data for the DRC.
• The first round of mpox vaccination has concluded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with around 51 500 people vaccinated across six provinces: Equateur, South Kivu, Nord Kivu, Sankuru, Sud Ubangi and Tshopo.
• In Burundi, the epidemic continues to be driven by clade Ib, with more than 200 laboratory-confirmed cases reported in each of the last two weeks. The epidemic remains largely concentrated in and around the city of Bujumbura, with two main age groups primarily affected, similar to what is observed in South Kivu (young children <5 years and young adults between 20-29 years), suggesting similar epidemic dynamics.
• The epidemic is rapidly expanding in Uganda, where in the last week more than 100 new confirmed mpox cases were reported. Transmission is driven by close intimate contact, involving sexual contact and sex work networks. The vast majority of cases reported are among adults.
• Rwanda has also reported a rising number of cases affecting adults, most of whom reported sexual contact with a person with mpox.
• Mauritius reported its first-ever mpox case; clade information is not yet available.
• Regarding global guidance and tools, the mpox screening tool for rapid identification, notification and isolation of suspected cases at health facilities was published.
• The Mpox Vaccines Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) endorsed the recommendation by an independent Technical Review Committee (TRC) to allocate 899 000 doses of MVA-BN vaccine to nine countries across the African region that are affected by the current mpox surge: the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
• A third mpox diagnostic test, a near-point-of-care real-time PCR test, was listed for EUL on 25 October.
• On 22 November 2024, WHO will convene the Emergency committee on mpox to advise the WHO Director-General if mpox continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern.