The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is facing a worsening Mpox epidemic as testing rates decline and conflict disrupts healthcare services.
Africa CDC also reported that a new variant has emerged, raising fresh concerns.
Chief of Staff at Africa CDC, Dr. Ngashi Ngongo provided this update during a weekly webinar briefing on the outbreak on Friday.
Science Nigeria reports that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Mpox a global public health emergency in August 2024 for the second consecutive year, following the spread of a new variant from the DRC to neighboring countries.
Mpox, a viral infection transmitted through close contact, has already caused over 59,000 reported cases and 1,164 deaths across 20 African countries in 2024.
Ngongo disclosed that only 17 per cent of suspected Mpox cases in the DRC were tested in the past week, marking a nearly 10 per cent decline.
He attributed this drop to the ongoing conflict and the withdrawal of U.S. aid, which previously funded specimen transportation.
“With the U.S. aid freeze, there is no money for transporting specimens,” he said.
He highlighted how financial constraints are crippling surveillance efforts.
“The situation is further compounded by the limited reporting of cases. Only seven out of the DRC’s 26 provinces are currently providing data on Mpox, suggesting significant underreporting of infections.
“To address this, Africa CDC is assisting the country in decentralizing laboratory services, increasing the number of testing facilities from just two in July 2023 to 21 by February 2024.
“However, the target was 56 laboratories to ensure all health zones have access to testing,” he noted.
He emphasised that the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC has severely impacted efforts to contain the epidemic.
“More than two million people are currently displaced and humanitarian groups have called for a humanitarian corridor to restore healthcare services, particularly in North and South Kivu, where M23 rebels have taken control of key areas,” he added.
Ngongo warned that without urgent intervention, the combination of inadequate testing and poor healthcare access could accelerate the spread of the virus.
In a positive development, he reported that more than 300,000 people have been vaccinated against Mpox in Kinshasa over the past 10 days, surpassing half of the government’s initial target.
He credited this success to a strategic shift – expanding vaccine access beyond contacts and high-risk populations to anyone living in geographic hotspots.
However, he raised concerns over the emergence of a new variant, Clade 1A, in Kinshasa.
“Scientists have found that this strain now shares a key gene with Clade 1B, which is linked to higher transmissibility. This genetic change could potentially make Clade 1A more infectious,” he said.
As the DRC grapples with multiple health and security challenges, he stressed the need for sustained international support to prevent the Mpox outbreak from escalating into a larger public health emergency.
Meanwhile, he reported that Uganda has confirmed five cases of Ebola – three confirmed and two probable – over the past week.
“The outbreak was first detected in a four-year-old child with no apparent link to a previous cluster of cases involving nine people,” he said.
Although genomic testing has confirmed that the virus strain remains the same, the index case remains unclear.
“In the previous outbreak, a nurse was suspected to be the first patient. However, as she lived in an urban setting without contact with animals known to carry Ebola, investigations are ongoing to determine if another unidentified source is responsible for the virus’s re-emergence.
“Health authorities in both the DRC and Uganda are calling for urgent intervention to contain these outbreaks and prevent further public health crises,” he said.
