WHO has declared mpox a global health emergency. What happens next?

The World Health Organization (WHO) mpox a public health emergency of international concern, after rising cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the potential for further spread. This now triggers a coordinated international response to an extraordinary event and the , such as vaccines and diagnostic testing, to curb the spread of this infectious disease. But WHO has not declared mpox a pandemic.

Rather, the measures it has triggered are designed to prevent it from becoming one. What triggered this latest alert? Mpox, once known as monkeypox, is a viral infection closely related to smallpox. Initial symptoms include a fever, headache, swelling of the lymph nodes and muscle ache.

A typical rash follows, mainly on the face, hands and feet. The spread of mpox through certain African countries led the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week mpox a public health emergency of continental security. This is the first time the organization has issued such an alert since it was established in 2017.

The situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa has been particularly worrying for more than a year. There are two types or clades of mpox. Clade II, which originates in west Africa, is less severe.

It has a of up to 1% (in other words, roughly one in 100 are expected to die from it). But clade I, from central Africa, has a fatality rate of up to 10% (up to one in ten die). This compares to a for the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.