New Delhi: India recorded 27 laboratory-confirmed cases of Mpox (previously known as Monkeypox) and one fatality between January 2022 and June 2024, according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) latest update on Tuesday.
The WHO's 35th situation report on the multi-country Mpox outbreak revealed that in June 2024, the most recent month with complete disease surveillance data, 934 new laboratory-confirmed Mpox cases and four deaths were reported across 26 countries.
“This illustrates continuing transmission of Mpox across the world,” the global health body said.
As per the report, with 567 cases the African Region is most affected between January 2022 and June 2024. This is followed by the Americas (175 cases), the European Region (100 cases), the Western Pacific Region (81 cases), and the South-East Asia Region (11 cases). The Eastern Mediterranean region did not report cases in June 2024, the WHO said.
In the South-East Asia region, Thailand reported the highest number of confirmed cases (805) followed by Indonesia (88), India (27), Sri Lanka (4), and Nepal (1). Thailand also reported the highest number of deaths from Mpox (10) in the region, followed by India (1).
“As reporting from countries to WHO has been declining, the current reported global data most likely underestimate the actual number of Mpox cases,” said the WHO, emphasising the importance of surveillance.
The report noted that four new countries in Eastern Africa -- Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda -- have reported their first Mpox cases.
Clade I is responsible for the rising infections in these countries, the UN health body said.
Separately, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa is experiencing an outbreak of Mpox linked to clade II MPXV, while South Africa has reported two more confirmed cases, it added.
Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and west Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.
It was first identified in monkeys in research laboratories in the 1950s, and it was not until 1970 that the first human case was discovered.
Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is also expected to soon convene an emergency committee under the International Health Regulations (IHR) to decide “whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)”.
PHEIC is the highest health alarm by the WHO. Since 2009, PHEIC has been declared seven times for H1N1 swine flu, poliovirus, Ebola, Zika virus, Ebola again, Covid-19, and mpox.