Health Alerts

The US CDC global monkeypox (MPX) outbreak data to Aug 2 puts the current total at more than 25,000 cases from 76 countries that have not historically reported the infection. The USA now has the highest total of 6,325 cases, followed by Spain, Germany and UK. Five deaths have been recorded over the past week in non-endemic countries: two in Spain and one each in Brazil, Peru and India (ex-UAE). The two fatal cases in Spain were unlinked, occurring in previously healthy men aged 31 and 44 who succumbed to encephalitis. The WHO director-general said last week that around 10 percent of people infected with MPX are hospitalised to manage pain symptoms. Read more. An official with Africa’s CDC has divulged that MPX vaccines are yet to be supplied to the continent. The agency is working with regional governments to manage concurrent outbreaks of Lassa fever, measles, cholera and monkeypox. In Australia, on July 28 the Chief Medical Officer declared monkeypox to be a Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance. Limited stocks of a second MPX vaccine ‘have been secured by the Commonwealth and some States and Territories’. More from the WHO on global trends and a series of infographics on managing monkeypox infections at home. Read more