WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the extension of the emergency following a meeting of international experts who noted progress in some countries but also highlighted a surge in west Africa and the spread of the virus outside Africa.
The WHO now refers to the outbreak as acute respiratory infections complicated by malaria. Officials said acute malnutrition led to an increase in severe illnesses and deaths.
The detection of a new, fast-spreading strain of the virus in a remote mining town in eastern Congo led the World Health Organization to declare mpox a global public health emergency in August. Since then, its spread has only accelerated.
The virus is taking hold in crowded camps home to millions of displaced Congolese, who live crammed into rough shelters with limited access to water. And it has reached Congo’s cities, including its enormous, congested capital.
Belated efforts to control mpox in Kinshasa — by isolating patients and vaccinating their contacts — have been halting and haphazard, far outpaced by the speed of the virus’s spread and change.
LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry said on Tuesday that a previously unidentified disease circulating in the country's Panzi health zone is a severe form of malaria. ...
