Monkeypox, a newer viral strain related to smallpox, made a resurgence in the Dominican Republic of Congo. On August 14, the disease facilitated the declaration of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) from the World Health Organization’s director, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus. Monkeypox, otherwise known as mpox, was discovered in 1958 and transmitted to humans two decades later. However, the early strains did not warrant any major countermeasures, leading to it going largely ignored until recently. Mpox only began showing potential signs of outbreak in 2021, when cases were “confirmed in six African countries,” the majority of which came from the Dominican Republic of Congo (National Library of Medicine). In early May 2022, the CDC declared the first mpox pandemic.
Although the first outbreak was controlled in 2023, a new strain has since evolved and caused a reemergence. August 14th saw the declaration of a PHEIC after “20,000 mpox cases” occurred in “13 African Union Member States” (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control). Fortunately, mpox has a low death rate with only around 600 cases leading to death so far. In addition, there already exists a vaccine that can entirely prevent the spread of mpox, and the WHO is working on supplying it to the afflicted nations.
Although the warning was declared internationally, the disease remains relatively local to Africa with few cases occurring elsewhere. Unfortunately, some of those infections are from the neighboring city of San Francisco. Three schools almost closed down in August, yet no real actions have been taken yet. In other words, there is nothing to fear. Due to the slow down in its transmission, the California government does not view the disease as a tangible threat, hoping that preventative measure such as the vaccine can help stop the spread.