The mpox epidemic has affected 39 people in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, since the beginning of the year, with no deaths, the country’s health authorities have announced.
“In all, a total of 39 confirmed cases out of 788 suspected cases, and no deaths” have been reported in 33 of the country’s 36 states, said Jide Idris, Director of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday August 16.
The sharp increase in the number of cases linked to this epidemic, particularly in Central Africa, prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to activate its highest international alert level on Wednesday.
A total of 38,465 cases of this disease, formerly known as monkeypox, have been reported in 16 African countries since January 2022, with 1,456 deaths, including a 160% increase in the number of cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data published last week by the African Union’s health agency, Africa CDC.
This disease has been known for a long time, but its current resurgence is linked to the appearance of a new strain, clade 1b, considered more dangerous, with an estimated mortality rate of 3.6%.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the worst-hit country, the epidemic has claimed at least 548 lives since the beginning of the year.