Sierra Leone Worst Affected as Africa’s CDC Confirmed 35,000 Mpox Cases across the Continent

Monrovia, Liberia: Dr. Ngashi Ngongo, head of the Incident Management Support Team at the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in a shocking revelation announced that Africa has recorded 141,000 suspected cases of Monkey Pox (Mpox), with over 35,000 confirmed.

Dr. Ngongo revealed that 94% of all confirmed Mpox cases on the continent are concentrated in four countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Burundi.

Placing significant emphasis on neighboring Sierra Leone, Dr. Ngongo reported that the Mano River Union country has recorded 4,032 cases, with 3,140 confirmed and 15 deaths. The figure represents 53% of all the latest confirmed cases of Mpox across the continent in the past twenty-one days.

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus. There are two distinct clades of the virus: clade I (with sub-clades Ia and Ib) and clade II (with sub-clades IIa and IIb). In 2022–2023 a global outbreak of mpox was caused by the clade IIb strain. 

Dr. Ngashi Ngongo is the principal advisor to the Director General and the continent Incident Management for Mpox. He is a professor of epidemiology at the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He played a catalytic role in the development and implementation of the new version of the Africa CDC by helping to break the silo approach and bringing teams together.

2.5 million doses of the Mpox vaccine have been released to Africa, with 11 countries receiving vaccines and 7 currently rolling out vaccination programs, he stated.

According to Dr. Ngongo, Africa’s Center for Disease Control is working tirelessly to meet its target of 6.4 million doses required to eliminate Mpox across the continent, confirming that 500,000 doses are available for supply to countries worst affected.

From the available vaccine doses, Dr. Ngongo noted that 50,000 have been allocated to Sierra Leone to vaccinate individuals exposed to the virus, adding that technical experts will be deployed to strengthen Sierra Leone’s surveillance and incident management systems.

He called on African governments and global health partners to intensify the fight against the disease.

Mpox is a major public health issue in Africa and will last for at least one year to stop this outbreak; therefore, we need seasoned public health leaders to bring Africa CDC colleagues and all parties to become members of one continental coordination mechanism.

Dr. Ngongo led the development of the Mpox continental preparedness and response plan and is leading a multidimensional team of seasoned health experts from various organizations.

Mpox is an infectious disease that can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, fever, headache, muscle ache, back pain, and low energy. Most people fully recover, but some get very sick. 

A global outbreak of clade IIb began in 2022 and continues to this day, including in some African countries. There are also growing outbreaks of clades Ia and Ib affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in Africa. As of August 2024, clade Ib has also been detected beyond Africa.

The natural reservoir of the virus is unknown, but various small mammals such as squirrels and monkeys are susceptible. 

The monkeypox virus was discovered in Denmark (1958) in monkeys kept for research. The first reported human case of mpox was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1970). Following the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the end of smallpox vaccination worldwide, mpox steadily emerged in Central, East, and West Africa. Since then, mpox has been reported sporadically in central and east Africa (clade I) and West Africa (clade II).

In 2003, an outbreak in the United States of America was linked to imported wild animals (clade II). Since 2005, thousands of cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo every year. In 2017, mpox re-emerged in Nigeria and continues to spread between people across the country and in travellers to other