There is no vaccines or treatments available in the country despite the fact it is experiencing its worst mpox outbreak

Vaccines in the United States: How many children are exposed to childhood mpox and what treatment they need: the role of basic medical care

The director of the CDC said that there was work to be done. We have to work with a country that is independent. And they have a lot of health threats… And so helping them work through not just mpox but their overall response is really what we’re trying to do.”

Small children can become dehydrated very quickly if they have mpox. Children are unable to eat or drink because of the throat and mouth sores. So without access to rehydration methods, nasogastric tubes, intravenous [fluids] if needed – without basic medical care that you would take for granted anywhere else – the children have a very high risk of severe disease and death, which we’re seeing in the data,” explains Lewis.

The Congo’s mpox epidemic is a public health emergency and its spreading to other parts of the world, writes Nicaise Ndembi

“I would say: Declare! Because, by declaring, you have access to the drugs, you have access to the vaccines. We don’t need to go through all the approval processes. The door for international support to mobilize resources will open with that.

Nicaise Ndembi, senior adviser to the director-general of the Africa CDC, says that since that speech has not been followed by an official declaration of a health emergency. “Meetings are meetings, right? Except if we really take action,” he tells NPR.

Ndembi says there are a lot of considerations that come into play before an official declaration can be issued. Travelers from multiple African countries were banned after Botswana and South Africa shared news about a new strain of COVID. These bans cost the countries economically and drew criticism since simultaneous cases in Europe did not receive the same response. “So, it’s very sensitive,” he says.

The minister of health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said at the closing ceremony that the situation is a public health emergency. The mpox epidemic which is raging in 23 country’s 26 provinces is a very worrying matter for the Democratic Republic ofDiskiy.

In 2022, many wealthy countries offered vaccines against smallpox, which also protect against mpox, to individuals at high risk of contracting the disease. The disease has historically been the most lethal among African countries, and few vaccine doses have reached them.

The countries have been trying to balance their desire for quick action against the right of theDRC to address its own health plans. The nation is facing many health challenges such as the plague and the incidence of measles.

“We’ve been doing a lot of groundwork and building support and trying to strengthen things. “I hope we’re at a pivot point,” says Dr. McQuiston of the CDC. “Over the next three weeks, we expect to learn a lot about what’s happening on the ground.”

A virulent strain of the monkeypox virus has gained the ability to spread through sexual contact, new data suggest. This has alarmed researchers, who fear a reprise of the worldwide mpox outbreak in 2022.

Their warnings were not heeded; in 2022, a global outbreak driven in part by sexual contact prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a public-health emergency. The outbreak, which is still ongoing, is caused by a clade II strain and has infected more than 95,000 people and killed more than 180.

The WHO warned last year that conflict, displacement and food security in the area could potentially lead to another spread of mpox, given the fact that the area borders two other countries.

According to the WHO’sRosamund Lewis, Japan and the United States have both said they will provide vaccine for the 25,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Philippines who do not have access to it. But a vaccination drive in the DRC would require hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of doses to inoculate every individual at high risk of infection, she says.

It’s not clear how much protection these vaccines will provide against clade I mpox, but Andrea McCollum, a poxvirus epidemiologist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, says that data from animal studies are promising. Researchers are trying to learn if tecovirimat is effective against the monkeypox virus. Results are expected in the next year, McCollum says.

The WHO and the CDC have helped to procure equipment that will allow for more rapid diagnosis of the disease in the DRC, especially in rural areas, Lewis says. She adds that the rapid mobilization of African health officials gives her hope that the outbreak can be controlled before the clade Ib strain starts spreading elsewhere.