Global Health Alert: Avian Influenza and Empox Outbreaks Raise Concerns

Animal contact not confirmed, quarantine authorities on high alert. Empox emergency in Africa continent. Suspected cases reported this year approaching 25,000.

As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, another danger lurks for humanity. The first case of human infection with avian influenza (AI) without a confirmed contact with an infected animal has been reported in the United States. Meanwhile, the number of suspected cases of MPOX (MPOX, formerly known as monkeypox) reported this year on the African continent has reached 25,000.

According to Reuters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Missouri health authorities announced that a patient who was hospitalized in Missouri with flu symptoms on the 22nd of last month was later tested and found to have H5 type avian influenza. The patient had an underlying disease, was treated at the hospital, recovered, and was discharged. The CDC said that no other people the patient came into contact with have been confirmed to have human-to-human infection.

This is the 14th person to test positive for avian influenza in the United States this year, but it is the first time a non-livestock worker has tested positive since the first human case of avian influenza was reported in the United States in 2022.

The patient’s route of contact with other infected animals has not been determined. “It is essential that the patient’s exposure is continuously investigated to determine how they became infected in order to determine future prevention and response measures,” said Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director for epidemic preparedness and prevention.

Concerns about human-to-human transmission are growing as cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, such as H5N1, are discovered one after another in mammalian populations such as dairy cattle. The WHO previously warned that if avian influenza begins to spread in mammalian populations, there is a high possibility that mutations that can transmit from human to human will occur.

The spread of Empox is not slowing down in Africa. The Africa CDC announced that a total of 24,851 suspected cases of Empox have been reported this year, including 5,466 additional cases in the past week as of the previous day. Of these, 5,549 were confirmed cases and 643 deaths were recorded.

The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is particularly dire. “91.0% of confirmed cases of MPOx across the continent and 98.9% of deaths are in the DRC,” said Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa CDC.

Empox is an acute febrile rash caused by a viral infection. When it spread to the Americas and Europe in May 2022, the WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the highest level of health alert, but lifted it in May of last year when the spread slowed down.

However, as the new variant of subtype 1b Empox, which has a relatively high fatality rate and rapid transmission rate, spread throughout Africa this year, WHO re-declared the PHEIC on the 14th of last month, 1 year and 3 months after it was lifted.