WHO Africa calls for more monkeypox diagnostics as cases rise
Better African surveillance and laboratory diagnosis to detect monkeypox is needed to stop a silent spread of the virus, both the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.
“If you’re able to control the spread of monkeypox from the source, particularly from the endemic countries, then other countries beyond Africa are going to be safer,” Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Africa CDC’s deputy director, said at a virtual briefing on Thursday.
The continent has reported 1,821 cases in 13 countries since the start of the year, the WHO said. Only about 110 of these cases are laboratory confirmed and account for 2% of the more than 4,500 confirmed cases globally.
While laboratory capacity was reinforced during the Covid-19 pandemic and all African countries have the polymerase chain reaction machines needed to test for monkeypox, many lack reagents, the WHO said. The organization is working to secure 60 000 tests for Africa.
“There are a large number of suspected cases in the region, 81% of which are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This underlines the need for increased diagnostic capacity,” Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s director for Africa, said in a separate briefing.
Three African countries which have not previously had any human cases are now reporting the virus. The two confirmed cases in South Africa are in patients with no travel history, indicating a high possibility of local transmission, the WHO said.
WHO’s Africa division said while monkeypox was raising concern as it spread on the continent, it was not recommending mass vaccination at this stage. Vaccine supplies are limited.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
Education: Consulting with member companies to obtain the optimal benefits from their B-BBEE spending, skills resources as well as B-BBEE points
VISIT SHOWROOM
ISO-certified Condra manufactures overhead cranes, portal cranes, cantilever cranes and crane components: hoists, drives, end-carriages, brakes and...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
