The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that he was considering convening a committee of experts to determine whether the Mpox epidemic, also known as "monkeypox", should be declared an international emergency in several African countries.

"I am considering convening an emergency committee on international health regulations to advise me on whether the mpox outbreak should be declared a public health emergency of international concern," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a post on social media.

He said that the UN agency and the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, are increasing efforts to stop the transmission of the virus, "but there is a need for more funding and support for a comprehensive response".

The qualification of international emergency is the highest alert that the WHO can raise and it is the director-general who can launch it on the advice of the committee.

On July 11, the WHO warned of the global health threat posed by mpox, expressing concern about an outbreak of a new, deadlier strain of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has already reported more than 11,000 cases and 450 deaths.

Since then, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have announced that they have recorded several cases of Mpox.

This virus was first discovered in humans in 1970, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the spread of the Clade 1 subtype, since then mainly limited to West and Central African countries, with patients usually being infected by infected animals.

Since May 2022, infections with the virus have occurred all over the world, with the spread of the Clade II subtype, affecting gay and bisexual men in greater numbers.

This global epidemic of monkeypox led the WHO to declare a public health emergency of international concern in July 2022, with this alert state ending in May 2023. (NM)