Congolese authorities began vaccinating against the monkeypox virus (mpox) yesterday, almost two months after the outbreak of the disease that began in Congo was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.

The 265,000 doses donated to the Democratic Republic of Congo by the European Union and the United States were distributed in the eastern city of Goma, in the province of North Kivu, where hospitals and health workers are overwhelmed trying to contain the new and possibly more infectious strain of mpox.

The country, with around 30,000 suspected mpox cases and 859 deaths, is responsible for more than 80% of all cases and 99% of all deaths reported in Africa this year.

All 26 provinces in the central African country have registered cases of mpox.

Although the majority of mpox infections and deaths recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo have affected children under the age of 15, the first doses are intended only for adults and will be administered to at-risk populations and frontline workers, as Health Minister Roger Kamba announced this week.

"Strategies have been put in place by the services to vaccinate all targeted personnel," the minister's chief of staff, Muboyayi Chikayai, said today as the vaccination began.

At least three million doses of the vaccine approved for use in children are expected from Japan in the next few days, said Roger Kamba, quoted by the international press.

On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) gave the green light to the first 'in vitro' diagnosis of mpox, which could help combat the current epidemic.

"Early diagnosis of mpox allows for rapid treatment and care, as well as control of the virus," the WHO emphasized.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans, but is also transmitted between humans, causing fever, muscle pain and skin lesions.

On August 13, the African Union (Africa CDC) declared mpox a "public health emergency of continental concern" and, a day later, the WHO declared a state of international health alert.

The WHO health alert refers to the rapid spread and high mortality in Africa of the new variant (clade 1b), whose first case was identified outside the continent, in Sweden, in a person who traveled to the African region where the virus circulates intensively.

This variant is different from clade 2, which caused a violent outbreak in Africa in 2022, as well as hundreds of cases in Europe, North America and countries in other regions, and led to the WHO declaring an international health emergency between 2022 and 2023. (NM)