Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Mpox continues to spread in Africa and threatens global health security

Nature Medicine (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

The African continent is a crucial part of the historical and current narrative of mpox. The first human case of mpox (then termed monkeypox) was detected in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), long before the recent spread of the disease to other parts of the world. Although mpox has been on the African continent for over five decades, it only gained worldwide attention when it began spreading to high-income countries in Europe and North America1. This is reminiscent of the global neglect of Ebola virus disease in the DRC and Sudan in the mid-1970s, which only gained international attention during the 2014–2015 Ebola outbreak when cases were exported to high-income countries. As with Ebola, mpox is emblematic of the global neglect of diseases that are endemic to Africa, up until they threaten the health security of the Global North. Progress must be made to control this disease and gaps need to be addressed to achieve global health security.

Before the PHEIC was declared, Africa had registered several mpox outbreaks including the 2017 outbreak in Nigeria with 122 confirmed cases and 7 deaths (case fatality rate of 5.7%) from 17 states5. Similarly, between 2005 and 2007, at least 760 confirmed cases of mpox were reported from the DRC. Since then, the DRC has been reporting yearly increases in mpox cases (Table 1). Despite these high numbers, there was a global neglect of mpox outbreaks until the virus began spreading in the Global North (to access a more detailed dataset, please contact AfricaCDCEBS@africa-union.org).

Table 1 Confirmed cases and deaths from mpox in Africa in 2022 (1 Jan–25 Nov) and 2023 (1 Jan–25 Nov)
Full size table

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Map shows distribution of mpox cases in Africa in 2022 and 2023.

References

  1. Kirby, T. Lancet 402, 949–950 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. WHO. External situation report #30; https://go.nature.com/49LES7T (25 November 2023).

  3. Africa CDC. Outbreak brief 26; https://go.nature.com/42UHONh (11 January 2023)

  4. Africa CDC. Outbreak brief 16; https://go.nature.com/48IWgtj (27 October 2022)

  5. Yinka-Ogunleye, A. et al. Lancet Infect. Dis. 19, 872–879 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Adetifa, I., Muyembe, J. J., Bausch, D. G. & Heymann, D. L. Lancet 401, 1822–1824 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Ogunkola, I. O. et al. Clin. Epidemiol. Glob. Health 22, 101313 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. WHO. Disease outbreak news; https://go.nature.com/49MT00E (23 November 2023).

  9. Africa CDC. Press release; https://go.nature.com/42Tdm64 (29 September 2022).

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Nicaise Ndembi, Yenew Kebede Tebeje.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Kyeng Mercy, Bethelhem Tibebu, Mosoka Fallah, Nicaise Ndembi & Yenew Kebede Tebeje

  2. MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Nuno R. Faria

Authors
  1. Kyeng Mercy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bethelhem Tibebu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mosoka Fallah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Nuno R. Faria
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nicaise Ndembi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yenew Kebede Tebeje
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicaise Ndembi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mercy, K., Tibebu, B., Fallah, M. et al. Mpox continues to spread in Africa and threatens global health security. Nat Med (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-02862-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-02862-6

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology