Sierra Leone declares the health emergency against this infectious disease due to the MonkeyPox virus after identifying two cases on its territory.
- In Sierra Leone, the government declared an emergency of public health to mobilize the necessary resources against MPOX.
- Two cases, including one concerning a 21 -year -old man suffering from symptoms, were recently reported in the country.
- “We ask all of our fellow citizens to keep their calm, to keep themselves informed and to promptly report any suspicious case to the authorities,” said Health Minister Austin Demby.
On August 14, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the resurgence of the MPOX CLADE I variant on the African continent was an emergency in international health (USPPI). Currently, the virus continues to circulate actively and has spread to Sierra Leone. Indeed, according to local authorities, two people were infected with the Monkeypox. The first case was reported last week. A second case was reported after a 21 -year -old man suffered from symptoms.
This viral infectious pathology, transmitted from animals to human beings, manifests itself by a vesicular eruption, made of vesicles filled with liquid which evolve towards drying, the formation of crusts and then healing. “The vesicles are rather concentrated on the face, in the ano-genital area, the palms of the hands and plants of the feet. They can also be present on the trunk and the members. The mucous membranes are also affected, in the mouth and the region genital “, noted The Regional Health Agency (ARS) Île-de-France. This eruption can be accompanied by itching, fever, headache, aches and fatigue. The lymph nodes can also be swollen and painful, under the jaw, at the neck or the fold of the groin.
MPOX: The health emergency “allows you to act immediately to mobilize the necessary resources”
Faced with the confirmation of the two cases of MPOX in Sierra Leone, the Minister of Health, Austin Dembydecreed the health emergency. She “Allows us to act immediately to mobilize the resources necessary for the endowment of the disease, the prevention of its spread and the management of affected people”, He told the press at Freetown. In detail, the latter has announced a strengthening of surveillance and border tests, as well as the launch of a national awareness campaign. “We ask all our fellow citizens to keep their calm, to keep it informed and to promptly report any suspicious case to the authorities.”
The minister added that the country’s medical system was ready to respond to the cases, highlighting the experience acquired during the epidemics of Ebola and Covid-19. Indeed, Sierra Leone was one of the hardest countries affected by Ebola, which ravaged West Africa ten years ago during an epidemic that killed some 4,000 people, including near 7 % of caregivers, between 2014 and 2016.
“In 2024, 215 cases of MPOX, all due to Clade 2, were declared” in France
As a reminder, MPOX was identified for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970. This disease was generally detected in a dozen African countries, but it began to spread more widely in 2022, reaching territories where the virus had never circulated before. In the spring, mpox cases were detected in Europe and North America unrelated to a trip to a country where this disease usually occurs. “Between May and December 2022, 4,967 cases of MPOX linked to the Clade 2 virus were identified in France (87 % of cases were confirmed by serological analyzes). In 2023, a new viral epidemic appeared in Africa. It is Due to the Clade 1 virus, very contagious and more virulent.precise Health insurance.
January 7, 2025, French health authorities revealed that they had identified a first case of CLADE I B MPOX in France, more precisely in Brittany.
