Sierra Leone’s mpox cases fuel African outbreak, health body says
Sierra Leone accounted for half of Africa’s confirmed mpox cases this week, the continent’s main health body said on Thursday, adding that the West African country was fuelling the outbreak.
Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close contact and typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. It 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, according to the WHO, which first declared the emergency in August last year.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said Sierra Leone reported 384 confirmed cases in a week, representing 50.7% of all the continent’s cases.
Sierra Leone, which declared mpox a public health emergency in January, has seen a 63% jump in confirmed cases in just one week, Africa CDC official Ngashi Ngongo said in an online briefing.
