By Kidega Livingstone<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
South Sudan faces threats of Mpox disease, spreading from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n DRC has recorded cases of the rare disease in several regions that health experts say it may spread across Africa since sexual transmission was confirmed on the continent last year.<\/p>\n Owing to the proximity to DRC, South Sudan and other neighboring countries are at risk, as movement of people across borders are not monitored.<\/p>\n An ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has forced many to flee for safety of their lives to the neighboring countries like South Sudan, could also aid spread of the disease.<\/p>\n However, amidst the looming threats of the Mpox disease from the neighboring country, South Sudan is on the alert.<\/p>\n Mr. Hol Joseph Spox, Communication and Visibility officer at the National Ministery of health, told No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper<\/em><\/strong> that the directors are due to hold a meeting, today, over the matter.<\/p>\n According to Hol, the Ministery of Health is aware of the threats posed by the disease from DCR and has schedule Monday meeting to discuss action plans.<\/p>\n “We as a ministry are aware and the directors are going to meet tomorrow (Today) for consultations and discuss about it,” he told No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper on Sunday.<\/p>\n Mpox is a virus that originates in wild animals and occasionally jumps to people, who can spread it to others. The virus was previously known as monkeypox because it was first seen in research monkeys.<\/p>\n Seven months after the World Health Organization downgraded Mpox from a global threat, an outbreak in Africa could go beyond the continent’s borders. What is Mpox and how dangerous is it?<\/p>\n After a year in which nearly 90,000 people were infected with\u00a0mpox<\/a>,\u00a0and 140 people died, the World Health Organization downgraded the disease in May 2023 from its status as a global health emergency.<\/p>\n Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, had spread rapidly in the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic when awareness of public health was at a maximum.<\/p>\n “Mpox continues to pose significant public health challenges<\/a>\u00a0that need a robust, proactive and sustainable response,” said WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the time. And he was right.<\/p>\n By mid-December last year, the WHO was sounding the mpox alarm again.<\/p>\n On December 15, the WHO warned\u00a0that an epidemic of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could spread internationally, as\u00a0a rise in sexual transmissions had been detected.<\/p>\n Japan’s health ministry reported two days earlier (December 13) that the country had seen its first fatality from mpox.<\/p>\n The patient had a prior infection with HIV and no travel history, said the health ministry in a statement, and it was not immediately clear how they had become infected.<\/p>\n There are ongoing outbreaks in Asia \u2014 in Japan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and China \u2014 so, the case needn’t have come from Africa.<\/p>\n But Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for mpox, said the organization was “concerned” about further international transmission from the DRC.<\/p>\n There was a “rapidly expanding outbreak in the country,” she explained,\u00a0with more than 13,000 suspected cases of the disease \u2014 more than 1,000 per month \u2014 and up to or more than 600 deaths so far.<\/p>\n As mpox can be transmitted sexually,\u00a0experts do not describe the disease as a sexually transmitted infection<\/a>\u00a0(STI). But sex is one of the main transmission routes.<\/p>\n The WHO’s official advice states that mpox is spread by close contact with an infected person. That includes talking and breathing near an infected person \u2014 via “droplets\u201d as we learned during\u00a0the COVID pandemic<\/a>, but also via sexual activity:<\/p>\n “[S]kin-to-skin (touching or vaginal\/anal sex); mouth-to-mouth (such as kissing); or mouth-to-skin contact (such as oral sex or kissing the skin).\u00a0During the global outbreak that began in 2022, the virus mostly spread through sexual contact<\/em>.” [our emphasis]<\/p>\n It can also spread via cuts, lesions and contact with mucous membranes \u2014 washing hands after any such contact, and\u00a0disinfecting surfaces, is essential for preventing\u00a0mpox to spread.<\/p>\n Mpox can also be transmitted from animals to humans, for instance if an infected animal is consumed by a human but the meat is not sufficiently cooked.<\/p>\n There are indications that mpox can also spread from humans to animals, such as pets, but the evidence is inconclusive.<\/p>\n Mpox is an infectious virus called\u00a0monkeypox<\/a>. Experts now prefer to call it mpox to avoid associations with monkeys or the idea that it does not affect people.<\/p>\n It was first discovered in 1958 among monkeys used for research in a Danish laboratory.<\/p>\n The first reported human case of the disease was in a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970.<\/p>\n A common symptom of mpox is a rash that persists for 2-4 weeks. An mpox rash \u2014 often a blister or soar \u2014 can affect the face, palms of the hands and soles of the feet, and groin, genital and anal regions of the body.<\/p>\n The extent of the rash can range from just a few blisters to thousands, with lesions found in the mouth, throat, rectum and vagina \u2014 hence, that heightened risk of\u00a0transmission HYPERLINK “https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis\/t-64645822” through sexual activity<\/a>.<\/p>\n Further symptoms are typical of other viral infections: fever, headache, muscle pain, low energy, and swollen glands.<\/p>\n In severe cases, mpox has been linked to secondary bacterial infections, and can spread to the lungs, eyes, brain and heart.<\/p>\n The mpox mortality rate lies between 0.1% and 10% of cases.<\/p>\n There is an antiviral medication called\u00a0tecovirimat SIGA, which is used to treat monkeypox, cowpox and smallpox \u2014 the latter is an\u00a0eradicated disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n The European Medicines Agency \u2014 Europe’s drug approval body \u2014 says the three infections are all caused by viruses that belong to the same family, known as orthopoxviruses.<\/p>\n Tecovirimat interferes with a protein (called VP37) found on the surface of the virus and slows down its ability to spread.<\/p>\n There are three\u00a0vaccines against mpox<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 derived through research into smallpox.<\/p>\n Currently, the WHO does not advise mass vaccination against mpox.<\/p>\n It says “only people who are at risk should be considered for vaccination\u201d and people at risk are those who have close contact with an infected person \u2014 including, but not limited to, sexual partners and healthcare workers.<\/p>\n Additional information for this article has been obtained from Germany’s international broadcaster – Deutsche Welle (DW) and the Word Health Organization.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Kidega Livingstone South Sudan faces threats of Mpox disease, spreading from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). DRC has recorded cases of the rare disease in several regions that health experts say it may spread across Africa since sexual transmission was confirmed on the continent last year. 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