Africa CDC say Sierra Leone’s Mpox surge raises alarm across the continent

Sierra Leone’s recent surge in Mpox cases has triggered concern across the continent, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.

The centre warned of a potential regional health threat if swift containment measures are not implemented.
The Africa CDC said the rise in infections is contributing to a broader resurgence of the virus in parts of West and Central Africa.

The Chief of Staff at Africa CDC, Ngashi Ngongo, shared this update during a weekly webinar briefing on the outbreak on Friday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close contact and typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.

Mpox is usually mild but can be lethal. It remains a public health emergency due to the continuing rise in the number of cases and the geographic spread of the outbreak.

WHO declared it as an emergency in August 2024.

Mr Ngongo said Sierra Leone reported 384 confirmed cases in a week, representing 50.7 per cent of all the continent’s cases.

“Sierra Leone, which declared Mpox a public health emergency in January, has seen a 63 per cent jump in confirmed cases in just one week,” he said.

He said that funding is the main issue but added that contact tracing and laboratory capacity also needed to be improved.

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“They have a bed capacity in Mpox treatment centres of only 60 beds, but we are talking about 800 active cases,” he said.

He said that most infected people had to stay at home.

He noted that in August 2024, the budget to fight Mpox was severely underfunded, and in February, the agency warned that funding cuts proposed by the United States earlier this year would threaten efforts to contain the disease outbreaks.

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“Mpox cases in high-burden countries Uganda and Burundi are on a steady decline, while cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo are showing signs of flattening,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Mpox can be prevented by avoiding close contact with infected individuals or animals; practising good hand hygiene, isolating cases, disinfecting contaminated items, and using personal protective equipment.

Vaccination is also recommended for high-risk groups, while public awareness remains key to controlling the spread.

(NAN)