Putting Mpox in context
Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is a contagious viral disease that can cause skin lesions, fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, and swollen lymph nodes. Its symptoms are usually mild and last from two to four weeks, but more severe cases can occur. The most vulnerable to severe forms of the disease are children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems.
The first case of Mpox in a human was identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. Today, the disease is endemic in 11 countries in West and Central Africa. However, there have been some outbreaks outside of the continent in people who were exposed during travel or through imported animals that had the virus.
In 2022, an unprecedented outbreak of cases spread in countries across the world that do not normally report Mpox, with the largest number of confirmed cases reported in the US. On July 23, the World Health Organization director-general declared the escalating Mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
MSF has a history of treating Mpox as cases occur from time to time in some of the countries where staff work—including in the Central African Republic in 2018—but is not directly responding to the current outbreak.