The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo that has already spread to neighboring countries.
A public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) is WHO’s highest level of alert and aims to accelerate research, funding, and international public health measures and cooperation to contain a disease.
Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and puss filled lesions on the body.
The outbreak in Congo began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But a new variant, clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact. It has spread from Congo to neighboring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, triggering the action from WHO.
In the Philippines, the Department of Health said the country’s surveillance systems have been placed on alert. No border control measures are recommended yet, but the Bureau of Quarantine would conduct “interviews, particularly to passengers departing and arriving from countries in Africa,” according to DOH spokesperson Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo.
Mpox may not be as worrying as COVID, but we should still be concerned and vigilant, as this is already the second time the WHO has raised a PHEIC for it. In July 2022, an mpox outbreak in different parts of the world was declared a PHEIC as cases spread rapidly, mostly via sexual contact, across a range of countries where the virus had not been seen before. It was lifted in May 2023 after a sustained decline in cases.
We are not affected yet, but there is no harm in staying vigilant.*
