A viral surge in cases of mpox — formerly known as monkeypox — across Africa has caused the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare the disease a global health emergency. This is the has been given the WHO’s most severe level of warning. After a serious outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo led to the disease spreading to a dozen countries that had not previously had it, the WHO’s director said the potential of further spread “should concern us all”.
Africa’s Centre for Disease Control recorded more than 15,600 cases of the disease, and more than 537 deaths in 2024, with the latest outbreaks affecting children the most. The last time the WHO declared mpox a , fresh off the back of the world’s COVID-19 pandemic and just as things like they were returning to “pre-COVID times”. And with only a few cases of mpox being recorded in Australia at that time, you’d be forgiven for not keeping up to speed with the key facts about the infectious viral disease.
So let’s fix that with an effective vaccination of info. What is mpox? Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that causes flu-like symptoms and its characteristic skin lesions, rashes, bumps, blisters, and boils. Like other pox diseases, mpox is transmitted through physical contact with infected humans/animals.
It primarily infects humans and animals and is endemic to countries in central and west Africa. Though most with the disease recover between two to four weeks, n.